TWO penalty goals in as many minutes, the last two minutes in fact, from the boot of Bathurst St Pat’s five-eighth Gary Reilly secured the Saints a confidence-boosting, come-from-behind 20-18 victory over Group 10 premier league minor premiers Orange CYMS on Sunday.
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With his side trailing CYMS 18-16 with two minutes left on the clock Reilly slotted his first penalty goal to draw level, before the green and golds were pinged for being too slow out of the tackle, giving the wily pivot a chance to kick his side to victory from 20 out on Carrington Park’s left-hand touchline.
He made no mistake, forcing CYMS to go into the major semi-final in a fortnight on the back of a loss – just their third this year.
Two of those losses have been to St Pat’s.
“That was outstanding. The last two weeks we’ve had to do it the hard way. To defend and to keep turning up for each other was outstanding,” Saints coach Kurt Hancock said.
“We’ve got to get better and we’ve got to be committed to the cause now for three weeks. If we do that then we’ve got a football side that can be there for the last game of the year.”
“First half wasn’t too bad, we held them out for the first six sets … but there was a few too many errors and a bit of fatigue in the second half and they were a bit too good,” CYMS captain-coach Mick Sullivan conceded.
After his side earned several repeat sets in the opening stages St Pat’s second-rower Travis Warinara broke through for the opening points of the game in the 10th minute.
However, CYMS threatened to run away with the game as winger Todd Murphy found the line and centre Ryan Griffin found a quick-fire brace to take the score out to 14-6.
St Pat’s winger Adam Morton scored to wrestle some momentum away from the visitors going into the break though.
The hosts coughed up the ball in their own half early in the second term and Dom Maley took advantage, waltzing through some soft defence to score and extend CYMS’ lead to 18-10.
Morton crossed again 11 minutes out from full-time, outpacing CYMS fullback Ben McAlpine and cutting the deficit to two, gifting the hefty Carrington Park crowd a grandstand finish.
After Reilly kicked his first penalty goal a missed McAlpine field goal attempt at 18-18 invited St Pat’s into the green and golds’ territory, and Reilly booted his side home after the siren.
His post-siren goal not only earned his side a confidence-building win going into finals but pushed the Saints up to finish second on the ladder.
The Saints will face Bathurst Panthers in the qualifying semi-final while Orange CYMS will have the week off.
BATHURST ST PAT’S 20 (Adam Morton 2, Travis Warinara tries; Gary Reilly 2 goals, 2 penalty goals) def ORANGE CYMS 18 (Ryan Griffin 2, Todd Murphy, Dom Maley tries; Ben McAlpine goal)
