Gerry Thornley/On Rugby: The past week or so has seen the clubs step into focus. Heaven knows they don't get that much of it anymore. But what little time in lights they have is vital to them and the future of the Irish game. If there were no provinces, there wouldn't be much of an international team, but if there were no clubs then the provinces would also suffer.
The IRFU pushed the boat out for last Saturday's double header at Lansdowne Road but despite the children's entertainments, free buses and a strong marketing drive, the attendance was in the region of 6-7,000. The Bank Holiday weekend hit hard, as did Munster's recent and impending travels for an all-Munster final, not to mention the FA Cup final. David Corkery, an incisive pundit on RTÉ Radio's rugby coverage, maintained that the club finals should have been played at Donnybrook, adding that having the Division Two finalists changing in the Lansdowne clubhouse was an insult to them.
Yet the players themselves would probably feel further insulted by being farmed off to Donnybrook and most club players would prefer to have their big day out in the, eh, mecca of Irish rugby (these things being relative).
Anyone who watched it would undoubtedly agree that the less pressurised Division Two final, in which UL Bohemians gamely tried to emulate Belfast Harlequins' Super 12-type approach, added to the occasion in a big way. Indeed, nothing about Saturday's double header dissuaded me from the continuing belief that the third division final could also have been accommodated there on the day. Given time and a burgeoning reputation, a triple header grand finale to the club campaign could ultimately become an end-of-season occasion which combines both the spirit of the AIB League final and, say, the Old Belvedere Sevens up to the 1980s.
This is also the time of the year when the club dinner circuit is in full swing and at Blackrock's annual soiree last Friday night some present wondered aloud whether the modern player will be bothered enough to become future club officials or dinner organisers.
Undoubtedly, there is simply less activity within clubs nowadays compared to 20 or so years ago. Most pointedly of all, there are fewer numbers playing in most of the more established clubs and so fewer junior teams are being put out. Yet this is as much a reflection on changed social and sporting climates, and among other factors, the advent of gyms as a comparatively injury-free way of staying fit, not to mention immeasurably more golf courses.
Even so, there remains life in the old dogs yet. The week before last a St Mary's 3rd Ds side, including Kevin Devlin as player-coach and such spring chickens as Brent Pope, Steve Jameson, Johnny Muldoon and Kevin Potts, won the Fox Cup final by 26-23 against a Greystones side featuring amongst others Johnny "Spud" Murphy.
On November 3rd last, after Lansdowne's AIL game at home to Garryowen, a bunch of former Lansdowne players, including Paul O'Connor and Brian Glennon, talked of reviving the bulk of the team from the late 1980s and early '90s. The idea fermented after another get-together in O'Connor's house and so they had a tilt at the O'Connor Cup (3rd Cs or J5ths).
Not all were regraded by the Leinster Branch, so Glennon became coach, Mark McDermott and Conor English were the bagmen, while Paddy "Basher" Boylan was manager. Even so, the squad contained one 52-year-old in Frank Kenny, who had never won a Branch medal. There were four players in their 40s and nine in their 30s.
Inspired by Craig Whelan, who scored two tries from full back and set up the other two, they burst into a 24-0 lead in their first-round derby against Wanderers, before Whelan succumbed to a pulled hamstring and they ultimately won 29-10. This, eh, rather set the tone. One of the problems with, shall we say, more venerable sides, is pulled hamstrings. Others, such as Sean Twomey, Jamie Murphy, John Quinn and Gordon Donnelly were similarly afflicted, and the formula of building a big early lead and ultimately hanging on with 14 men was repeated in the subsequent 34-18 and 27-19 wins over St Mary's and Suttonians.
IT WAS ALL a bit of a lark, too. Glennon reveals that Andy Doyle "gets some slagging about the size of his nose", and against Mary's when a lineout ball slipped through O'Connor's hands it caught an unsuspecting Doyle flush in the face and knocked him to the ground. He was joined there by several team-mates as they fell into convulsions of laughter on the pitch and on the sidelines.
Another problem with players who've played at much higher levels, reveals Glennon, "is that they become frustrated with referees". Against St Mary's, Declan Fassbender was sin-binned late on and, as coach to the Lansdowne under-20s, happened to be unavailable for the Suttonians game when the same referee was in charge. O'Connor, in a blinding flash of inspiration, informed the referee beforehand that the trouble-maker of the St Mary's game had been disciplined by Glennon and would not be playing. The referee was apparently suitably impressed.
So came the final against an Old Wesley side formed completely from their under-20s. A well-bred Lansdowne team read: Mick Kerin; Mark Quinn, Paul Clinch, Declan Fassbender, Robbie Becker; Michael Quinn, Alan Twomey; David Bradley, Peter Horgan, Robert Mitchell, Paul O'Connor, John Collins, John Horgan, Andy Doyle and Pat Ward. In addition, John Tuttle, Donal McEvoy, Tom Clancy, Frank Kenny and Kieran Mandel came on as replacements.
With O'Connor again a banker out of touch, their pack rumbled and tries by captain Pat Ward (who coached Clontarf to a seconds double with their Metro win on Sunday against Terenure), Peter Horgan and Mark Quinn saw them into a 23-3 interval lead.
"They (Wesley) will be quite happy with that," warned Glennon at half-time. "They'll feel their superior fitness will tell to them." Sure enough, the young Wesley tyros gamely flung the ball about, scoring three long-range tries, but Kerin kicked 13 points and maintained his try-a-game average to steer a wilting Lansdowne home by 33-18. Yep, there's life in the old dogs yet.
