A NARROW WIN

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 112, 14 May 1934, Page 5

A NARROW WIN

St. Pat's Old Boys were hard put to it towards the finish of their match with Jolinsonville on the latter's ground to maintain the useful lead which they had Secured in the first'spell. St. Pat's had it all their own way in the opening half, and showing excellent backing up and clean handling, together with accurate touch-finding, they profited greatly from Johnsonville's many mistakes. The packs appeared to be very evenly matched, and with a seora of 11 points to nil by halftime St. Pat's appeared to have the match well in hand. With the resumption of play, however, the Jolinsonville forwards played-an*inspired game, and in both the tight and the loose they, took charge of the game. Vigorous combined rushes*, snappy passing bouts, and solid rucking enabled them to repeatedly sweep the field. Had the backs given anything like adequate support, victory must have been theirs, but once again Jolinsonville were unable to finish off-their efforts. Although six penalty goals figure in the score, it did-not-appear that an unusual number were awarded during the game. Each oE the four Johnsonville kicked and several fairly easy ones which they missed were the culmination of sweeping forward rushes, when the defence were up against iti- Praise must also be given to the St. Pat's backs for their solid defence and fine line kicking. K. O'Connor was especially safe at full-back. After K. O'Connor had opened the scoring with'"a good 'penalty' goal, a passing rush between P.- O'Connor and B. "McCarthy just failed in its objective. Then Phillips ran brilliantly down the line to pass to W. R. Hart, who sent on to J. McCarthy, who ran over unopposed between the posts, K. O'Connor converting. Within a few minutes K. O'Connor added another penalty goal, 11-0. In the second spell, Turner landed a penalty goal for Johnsonville, and then fast following up by Phillips and Dennehy cave the latter an easy try for St. Pat's. Turner then was successful with two further penalty kicks, but missed several others. With only three minutes to go Trenchard landed a penalty goal. The closing stages were very exciting. The result was: St. Pat s Old Boys, 14; Johnsonvilb, 12. Mr. J. Wilson was the referee.