Greystones’ Promotion Hopes Alive And Kicking At Key Stage Of Season

With Eoin Marmion as captain, Greystones have chalked up seven wins so far in Division 2A of the Energia All-Ireland League this season ©INPHO/Ben Brady
Making the step up to Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division 1B is the aim for Greystones. Having made ground into the top four last weekend, Danny Kenny’s side are hoping to build on their recent run of results.
As the fixtures have now reversed to start the second half of the season, the teams that Greystones overcame to put together a five-match unbeaten run are first on the agenda.
That is before a tricky block of games which will see them travel to Cashel and Instonians, and face the likes of MU Barnhall and current leaders Galway Corinthians at home, with all four sides joining ‘Stones in fighting it out at the business end of the table.
The County Wicklow club continued their pursuit of promotion last Saturday with a 25-13 bonus point win away to Old Crescent. Conor Balamine and Dylan Henry bookended the second half with important tries.
Next up they face two teams currently in relegation trouble, with ninth-placed Ballymena travelling to Dr Hickey Park this Saturday. They then complete this block with a trip to Athlone to play bottom side Buccaneers.
Kenny’s charges will have to fend off sixth-placed Banbridge in round 13, who are another side staking their claim for promotion, before renewing rivalries with the other teams currently alongside them in the top five.
Speaking to IrishRugby.ie, Greystones RFC PRO Gary Nolan admits they are in an ‘artificial third place’ because of fixture postponements elsewhere, and knows they need to keep their foot on the gas if they want to stay in the top four.
“We’re in third place, it’s probably an artificial third place because others didn’t play (last Saturday),” he said. “But given that Cashel and Barnhall have to play each other, one of them is going to drop points.
“So we’ll either stay in third or we’ll be in a solid fourth. We’re securing the top four even after they play their matches. You’d be loath to count chickens before anything, but you have to be targeting a bonus point win at home to Ballymena, a bonus point win away to Buccaneers.
“And we’ll take a win against Banbridge, who are always thorny. Even though we did turn them over up there, we didn’t get a bonus point when we were there. They can be thorny, but we’ll take three wins and a couple of bonus points.
“Buccaneers are a bit of a conundrum. When they came to us, we put 70 plus points on them. They’ve obviously had a bit of a turnaround, leading against Corinthians at half-time last weekend, showing certainly a lot more spirit and fight.
“So take nothing for granted. All it takes in this league is for a team to get back three or four lads maybe who are missing with injury, and it can change a side.”
Indeed, only 11 points cover the leading five teams at present, and with those rescheduled matches to take place on Saturday, February 22, things could look very different by that point. However, ‘Stones are looking at a very different table in terms of their own position from last season.
Finishing up in eighth spot last April, a win on the final day avoided the threat of a relegation play-off. This season is just their second one in the third tier since winning the Division 2B title in 2022/23. They earned promotion back to Division 2A for the first time since 2018.
Another victory on Saturday would see them surpass both their points haul and win tally from last season. In terms of what has made a difference regarding their improved results, Nolan pointed to a couple of things, including player/coach Kenny’s increased presence on the pitch.
“Last year we were probably lacking in confidence, first season up after being promoted. Maybe we were doubting ourselves a little bit, but there are games we should have closed out and won, but we didn’t.
We contrived to lose in the second last game of the season away to Ballymena, where we were winning and capitulated at the end to lose a game we should have won.
“That wasn’t the only game we lost last year just through lack of confidence, bad decision making. So it hasn’t been a massive change this year. We’ve tightened up in one or two positions.
“Danny Kenny, as player/coach, is playing a lot more this year than he did last year, and that leadership on the field has made a difference. So just a couple of tweaks and a couple of things have made a big difference.”
Greystones have had a great production line over the years, and while many players scattered around the All-Ireland League have worn the club’s colours in the past, they have also added to their ranks this season with some Under-20 graduates coming to the fore.
Former Greystones player James Nicholson was a Grand Slam winner with the Ireland U-20s in 2023, and played against his home club in the current campaign as he is now tied to Galway Corinthians and the Connacht Academy.
Another Connacht Academy recruit, Finn Treacy, cut his teeth with Greystones too, while Howard Noonan, who is with Division 1A club St. Mary’s College, and his brother, Old Wesley prop Harry, also played their youth rugby at Dr Hickey Park.
U-20 players Henry and Balamine, who were both try scorers from the back-three at Old Crescent, have added to Greystones’ attack. That was a fourth score of the season for former Presentation College Bray player Henry.
Andrew Lynch and Ferdia Kenny are two of ‘Stones’ more established finishers in the back-line, and their impressive out-half Killian Marmion is Division 2A’s current top scorer with 82 points to date.
Nolan heaped praise on Marmion’s influence both this season and down through the years, and also spoke about the importance of bringing through players like Balamine and Henry with regards to growing the team.
“Killian has been, for many years, solid at 10. Hardly ever misses a game with injury. Reliable. Very, very solid. We have a couple of Under-20s that have come in, took their opportunity and nailed places.
“Dylan Henry on the wing and Conor Balamine at full-back are both Under-20s and both scored tries last weekend. And whilst they look about 14 years of age, they don’t look out of place on the team.
“It’s great to have that coming through from the U-20s. To have that feed in each year if you can blood a couple of lads, that keeps feeding the first team. The U-20s are very important to us to keep feeding the first team.”
After a slow enough start to the season, in which Greystones posted two wins from their opening five games, they have put the shoulder to the wheel since then.
With their confidence visibly on the rise, not only have they taken their scores well, they currently have the third best defensive record in the division with only second-placed Instonians and Banbridge having conceded less points.
As an intriguing Division 2A campaign rumbles on past the halfway stage, the competitiveness is really starting to show. Nolan reckons ‘Stones have done well to manoevure themselves to where they are at present, having suffered some setbacks in those earlier rounds.
“The way the season kind of shaped up, we kicked off the year against Navan at home, which was a a very rusty performance. But then we faced Corinthians and Instonians, and a bad defeat to Corinthians,” he explained.
“We regathered against Instonians and had the beating of them bar an injury-time scrum penalty. We defeated Barnhall and then we played Cashel – we’d a a run of Corinthians, Instonians, and Cashel that ended up in three defeats.
“Instonians we lost in the last minute. Cashel, we had a penalty 20 metres out in front of the post to level the game and walk away with a draw, but we decided to take a scrum and try and win the game and got turned over and we lost the game.
“So we were kind of playing catch up. Five games in, two wins and three defeats wasn’t a great return. But we’ve gone unbeaten since then, which is great, and now we get into the reverse fixtures.
“Those games that we won, they’re all very winnable again, and we come into the back end of the season. Where could we be? We could be a solid third, and facing end-of-season games against Cashel, Barnhall, Instonians, and Corinthians.
“We’re quietly confident of a top four finish. I don’t think we will be threatening the top two places, but we’ll be quietly confident of the top four, between ourselves, Barnhall, and Cashel for those final two places.”
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