Although Garryowen didn’t quite achieve the victory they were looking for, Eddie O’Sullivan was more than happy with his return to the coaching arena on the back pitch at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
O’Sullivan’s arrival as an advisor to the Garryowen coaching team of Tom Tierney, Paul Neville and Paul Murphy brought about a distinct improvement.
But the Limerick team still went down to a 13-9 defeat. Importantly, they picked up a losing bonus point but they remain stranded at the bottom of the Division 1A table.
O’Sullivan knows better than anyone that it is going to take a remarkable turnaround if Garryowen are to avoid relegation. With eight games left, they now trail second from bottom side Ballynahinch by 11 points.
“It’s a big battle. Nine cup finals, one gone, eight to go.” stressed the former Irish coach. “We have a very important game at home to Ballynahinch at Dooradoyle next weekend.
“Hopefully, we can take a lot of confidence out of today’s performance. It was a game we might have sneaked at the end but, to be fair, Lansdowne dominated possession.
“But I thought our defence was fantastic. There was a 25 -point spread between the teams when they met earlier in the season, so it was a big step up.
"There was great energy and a great work ethic, you can't ask for more. Lansdowne are, after all, the defending champions and one of the top teams.
First victory
"From a personal point of view, it's great to be involved again. This is a very enthusiastic bunch of lads, very fired up young players So, I'm enjoying being back on the field again, grass under my feet."
No doubt, O’Sullivan would have enjoyed it even more had Garryowen somehow managed a surprise first victory of their campaign. In truth, they just didn’t have the ammunition to secure that win.
Their attitude was great, they defended magnificently, and, for once, they made good use of their scoring opportunities with outhalf Alan Gaughan landing three penalties. Crucially through, they just couldn’t come to terms with the Lansdowne scrum.
That deficiency caused them to concede a penalty try towards the end of the first half. Lansdowne outhalf Scott Deasy converted and also kicked a penalty while Gaughan replied with the first of his penalties to leave Garryowen trailing 10-3 at the interval.
Fleetingly, they seemed to be in with a real chance of causing a major upset when Gaughan added two more penalties to reduce the deficit to 10-9 by the 54th minute but Lansdowne regained their composure.
A second penalty from Deasy extended their lead to 13-9 going into the final quarter.
It was a lead they always looked like holding on to. While the victory which moves Lansdowne back up into third position in the table, coach Mike Ruddock wasn’t entirely satisfied with the home side’s performance.
“That wasn’t our best performance, we tried to play too much rugby in difficult conditions in the first half.
“But you have to give Garryowen credit, they were very physical and tackled really well.”
