Men's Metro Divs 1 & 7 Update

Our men’s J1 side returned to action last Thursday night in their second last league match of the season away against Old Belvedere RFC. 

Having named a very strong full squad and coming in off the back of a much-improved team performance against Barnhall last time out, there was an excitement around this local derby rivalry being once again revisited. 

That excitement was vindicated within the opening few minutes of the kick-off with a hugely impressive opening score by Louie Maguire, as a result of a blindingly fast and skilful few combinations in attack which saw Louie barrel over in definitive fashion! 

That laid down a theme for the night as the match was played out for the full 80 minutes at an incredibly high pace with almost every score coming from end to end to end type play of both sides punching holes and making yards. 

The score on end after what was very much a tit for tat game for the most part was 41-26 to Old Belvedere RFC and as we sign off soon from Metro League action, we wish them all the best and hope we see them again soon in the Metro Cup.  

On Friday night our Metro League Castle side from Divison 7 hosted BGF Ravens. When this fixture was posted, many people in player and supporters group queried who exactly are BGF Ravens and in response we would like to acknowledge what a fantastic team and club they are. Ballymun Glasnevin Finglas Ravens are a somewhat unique club in rugby circles as a one adult men's team club that stemmed originally from a factories rugby league and a business houses cup originating in 1958, where they were given the use of Blackrock College school pitches to play their competitive fixtures. In 2014, they rebranded as BGF Ravens in a bid to better serve the core communities of Ballymun, Glasnevin, and Finglas. This season they have been forced to play every single fixture away from home as their pitch in Mount Temple College has been closed for refurbishment. 

Their players, coaches and management have been fantastic to deal with and proved incredibly tough to compete against as we learned on the day when we narrowly escaped with a 28-21 win with the last action of the game being a marginally wayward penalty kick. 

One interesting note about their competitive team was the inclusion of their former Old Belvedere College SCT winners medalist and professional UFC fighter, Mr Cathal Pendred, as their number 6 for the game. He certainly has not lost any of his insane strength since retiring from cage fighting as many of our brave forwards were able to attest to afterwards! 

It looks unlikely that we shall meet Ravens again this season, as they will play in a lower cup competition than the Winters Cup that we look forward to. 

Ranking wise, we clawed back from our league position shortfall and we stay in the hunt somewhat for the league final spot v Old Belvedere. 

Looking at the table, we are back in 4^th after a marginal loss to Old Belvedere and our forced concession to Navan RFC unfortunately set us back somewhat. 

We look forward to a ”do or die” type game away from home against St Mary’s RFC next Saturday 28th. As the current 2nd place team, it is them we are hoping to chase down and keep pressure on for that potential league final spot!