Ally Maxwell turned out for his primary dualed club Irvine at the weekend and was on the scoresheet for a hatrick
Irvine this season are coached by former Hawks coach Jim Barrie

Irvine have concluded their pre-season in style by winning the Marymass Tournament.
In an absorbing tournament which went right down to the wire, late tries by Neil McMillan and Michael Kirk in the decider against Dalziel - the latter converted by Kris Hobson - gave the hosts a 12-12 draw which ensured the trophy returned to Marress after near-misses in the last two seasons.

The result completes an unbeaten pre-season for Irvine under their new head coaching team of Jim Barrie and Kenny Glen, who can now look ahead with confidence to their first competitive match in charge at Strathendrick in the Shield.


Both Irvine and Dalziel started as they meant to continue in the opening round of matches. Dalziel beat Paisley 19-0 in an ill-tempered match which saw two players sent off, while Irvine cruised to a 33-0 victory over Dalziel 2nds - a late replacement after Cambuslang were forced to withdraw at short notice - through a hat trick by Alistair Maxwell and single scores from Michael Kirk and new scrum-half Ryan Andrews. Kris Hobson added four conversions to round off the scoring.

Both sides then played defending champions Linlithgow. First, Dalziel edged the Mains Park side out 7-3 with a second-half converted try after they had kicked a penalty to take the lead - an unusual occurrence in an exhibition match.

It was similarly tight when Irvine played them, with the match remaining scoreless at half time. Iain Speirs then edged the home side in front with an unconverted try, and although the tourists hit back with a try of their own shortly afterwards to level the scores, in injury time new prop Robbie Jaap took a pass from Michael Kirk to win the match and end Linlithgow's interest in the competition.

Linlithgow went on to win their remaining two games against Paisley and Dalziel 2nds, but this was only good enough for third place.

Irvine warmed up for the decider against Dalziel with a 33-7 victory over Paisley - who by now had registered their only victory of the afternoon against Dalziel 2nds. Ryan Andrews scored two first-half tries, and there were singles after the break for Iain Speirs, Michael Kirk and John Murdoch. The conversions were shared amongst Jordan Marshall, Scott Cook and Craig Hobson.

The stage was now set for the deciding match with only Irvine and Dalziel able to win the tournament. Irvine's superior points differential - as well as their having played a game more due to Dalziel opting not to play their scheduled match against their 2nds - left Dalziel needing a 22-point victory to secure the title.

And this looked very much on the cards as the Lanarkshire side took the game to Irvine and, after a tight first half, scored tries either side of the break, the latter converted, to take a 12-0 lead. But Irvine dug in and weathered the storm, and their chances were given a boost when the visitors suffered a sin-binning with five minutes to go, and Neil McMillan reduced the deficit with his try from the resulting penalty.

Mathematically that was enough to get Irvine over the line, but they did not want to finish with a defeat after playing so well all day, and in injury time Michael Kirk did well to recover a stolen lineout throw deep in the Dalziel half and score in the corner. Dalziel were convinced Kirk had knocked on, but referee Ali Steven waved their appeals away and the try stood.

This left the small matter of a tough touchline conversion for Kris Hobson to square the match, which he duly sent right through the middle of the posts with a beautifully flighted kick.


While Irvine are getting their Shield campaign underway at Strathendrick, Marress travel to Ardrossan for a friendly as they continue to build toward the start of their own season on Saturday 21st September.o

This article was originally posted on 20-Aug-2013, 19:59 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 20-Aug-2013, 20:07.