WHEN St Mary's looked at the players they had available to them at the beginning of the season and realised that they had lost 14 from last year's first team, their thoughts centred around survival in the premier league.
Now sitting comfortably in second position with the pressure off and planning on how to further strengthen the side coach Ciaran Fitzgerald can well afford to smile. While he might not have liked the look of his team's win over Old Belvedere in a stiff and difficult breeze at Templeville road, he can be satisfied with St Mary's second place on the table, three points behind Shannon.
When St Mary's ran the ball it opened up the best move of the game involving Kevin Nowlan breaking from his own 22 and John McWeeney finishing off with a solo 60 metre run. But that wasn't enough to enliven a dogged display from both teams who rarely generated a style of play that could rise above the conditions.
Still, 34 barren minutes passed before the visitors could add anything to Treacy's penalty in the opening exchanges. Then Fergal O'Beirne gathered a loose ball and dived over the St Mary's line after an inventive run from Miles O'Reilly, which took him up the right wing before he finally wriggled in field.
But by then half time was looming and rather than gain momentum and add to their 10 point total, Old Belvedere conceded a try when Nowlan scooped up the ball following a penalty which landed short. He broke through the cover and delivered out to McWeeney. When the right wing stretched his legs there was no one who could catch him.
Playing a dull, conservative game, the home side simply set up Craig Fitzpatrick with penalties. He added a straightforward kick after 52 minutes to bring his side to within two points. A 59th minute effort 20 metres out put St Mary's 11-10 ahead, and a third simple kick on 68 minutes put even more light between the two sides.
Nowlan finished off the scoring with a late blindside run down the right. Serviced by Conor McGuinness from a scrum, Nowlan crashed over in injury time with Fitzpatrick adding perhaps his best kick of the match to convert from wide on the right touchline.
