Historic Navan victory

AT times during the opening half of this All-Ireland League play-off on Saturday Navan were nervy and tentative. Then they produced some champagne rugby after the break to pummel the visitors from the west into submission and copperfasten victory. This win, and promotion to the All-Ireland League Div 3 was a long, long time in the making however, Navan achieved what they had set out to do and made it three wins from three in the play-offs and carve out a piece of history. As one observer put it 'Monivea didn"t travel all this way just to make up the numbers.' For about 70 minutes the Galway men made it difficult for the home side who had to work hard to break through a solid defence. The Connacht side"s resistance was finally broken, and the issue put beyond doubt, by two quick-fire tries from Navan scrum-half Kieran Mattson in the second-half, which he added to a first-half touchdown. The Kiwi"s sniping little runs from the base of rucks and scrums caused huge problems for Monivea all afternoon and he capped a memorable display with his hat-trick. Facing into the breeze in the opening half, and perhaps hampered by expectation, Navan struggled to find the confident, free-wheeling form they had displayed against Cashel the previous week. On a number of occasions they spurned good attacking positions by knock-ons or the concessions of penalties yet they still went into the break with a 12-8 advantage. Maybe the manner in which they sailed through for the opening try by Alan Hickey after just five minutes produced a sense of complacency? Hickey"s try gave an indication that Mattson was on his game as the score came after the scrum-half took a quick penalty about 15 metres out that clearly surprised the Galway side. Mattson drew a tackle, passed to Sylvanus Iro who off-loaded to Hickey and he sailed through to score. Karl Manning missed the conversion. Any thoughts that this would be an easy assignment were surely dispelled eight minutes later when Monivea scored a well worked try when winger Rory O"Connor went over in the corner. At one stage midway through the first half the Galway side even pulled ahead when their full-back Kevin Higgins nailed a long-range penalty to put them 8-5 to the good. On the half-hour mark the home side regained the lead. Again the score came from a quick Mattson penalty, only this time he held onto the ball to score himself after weaving through the startled Monivea defence. Manning converted and Navan were on their way. Feeding off plenty of ball from their own line-out Navan launched a series of attacking moves moving the ball quickly through the phases. It was pick and go, pick and go, the forwards making the hard yards, inch by inch. It frequently brought them into good attacking positions. During the opening half they were unable to take full advantage of these positions, but that all changed after the break. Playing more controlled rugby in the second-half the home side were able to take full advantage of some good attacking positions. Once more the forwards were excellent with David King and Eoin King, along with Johnny Baker exerting a big influence in the front row. At one stage Eoin King did a good impersonation of a winger, sprinting forward with the ball. It was a spurt that eventually led to Mattson going over for his second try. As the game wore on Navan gradually gained a supremacy in the scrum and it was from this platform they were able to build a dominance in the second-half. As usual, Iro put in the big hits and broke through the gainline on numerous occasions. Just seven minutes into the second-half he took the ball from the base of a ruck and raced over for a try. On the hour mark a spell of sustained Navan pressure forced Monivea to infringe. After consulting with the touchjudge referee Jude Quinn awarded a penalty try, converted by Manning. The referee also showed a yellow card to Monivea"s Gerard Divilly. The Navan set pieces worked effectively throughout. John Duffy was the main receiver in the line-out and did well in that role while Simon Hogan and Manning produced their usual quota of weaving runs that turned defence into attack. In terms of territory Navan won hands down. A clever reverse pass from Simon Donnelly set Mattson up for his second try with eight minutes remaining and a block down by Conor Brady led to Mattson"s third five minutes later. Both tries were converted by Manning. Hogan was sin-binned late on, but by then it was clear who would claim the spoils. Monivea engineered a late try with Darren Blade slicing through to score, converted by Kevin Higgins. It proved to be no more than a consolation. There was no stopping the Navan side as they romped to victory and a place in local sporting folklore. Navan - K Manning, S Donnelly, R Conaty, M Harrington, S Hogan, A Hickey, K Mattson; E King, J Baker, D King, B Harris, J Duffy, P Feeney, B Smyth, S Iro. Subs - E Dunne for King, T Geraghty for Conaty, T Clarke for Smyth, S Dawson for Donnelly. Monivea - K Higgins, G Divlilly, R O"Connor, F Cloonan, F O"Neill, G O"Connor, D Blade; C Divilly, G Fitzmaurice, R Coughlan, W Parker, S McHugh, P Fitzmaurice, M King, E Rooney. Referee - Jude Quinn (IRFU).