Burleigh’s Jim Lenihan says 2019 squad is among the best he’s coached after winning ISC title
BURLEIGH coach Jimmy Lenihan has hailed this year’s premiership-winning side as arguably the greatest of his 10-year reign after defying the odds to deliver a second Intrust Super Cup title to his resume.
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BURLEIGH coach Jimmy Lenihan has hailed this year’s premiership-winning side as arguably the greatest of his 10-year reign after defying the odds to deliver a second Intrust Super Cup title to his resume.
Bears coach from 2006-09, the success of Lenihan’s second coming as ISC mentor was underlined this afternoon as his side romped to a 28-10 grand final win over Wynnum Manly at Redcliffe.
It was the second premiership in four years for Lenihan’s troops and followed a week of intense media speculation surrounding whether they could replicate their preliminary-final upset of recordbreaking minor premiers Sunshine Coast.
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But they responded in the best way possible, with man-of-the-match Kurtis Rowe and halfback Jamal Fogarty instrumental as Burleigh ran in five tries to two.
Asked whether the class of 2019 was among the best he’s overseen, 46-year-old Lenihan was unequivocal.
“Without doubt. They’re a fantastic group with some core blokes who lead the way, and then we’ve got some great staff. It all spreads throughout the club and the club really deserves (the win),” Lenihan, who returned to the coaching post midway through 2014, said.
“The club’s going really well at the moment and I’m very proud of everyone. There’s a lot of training and sacrifice that goes into it behind closed doors and they got their just desserts today.”
The Bears dominated the early exchanges and, after opening the scoring with a 14th-minute penalty goal from Fogarty, they were rewarded with the first try seven minutes later when Tyronne Roberts-Davis found the line.
Their lead stretched to 12-0 in the 30th minute after a brilliant Fogarty grubber and regather set up fullback Rowe to score the first of his two tries.
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But Wynnum found a way back into the contest five minutes before halftime when Roberts-Davis spilt a grubber on his own line, with Sam Scarlett scooping on the crumbs to make it 12-4 at halftime.
The deficit was narrowed to two points in the 48th minute when Seagulls winger Edward Burns scored after a deft chip kick, before fullback Rowe restored Burleigh’s buffer to a converted try four minutes later after pouncing on a perfect Dylan Phythian kick.
It was then left to talismanic hooker Pat Politoni to seal victory for the Bears in the 68th minute, fooling the Seagulls defence to crash over out of dummy half.
Fogarty put the icing on the cake in the 76th minute, running 80m to score in front of the 7784 fans that packed into Dolphin Stadium.
“All week the media was telling us we couldn’t replicate what we did last week,” Lenihan said.
“We played a really good game (against Sunshine Coast) and it gave us some confidence going into this game. I thought both sides were really good defensive teams so it was always going to be a dour affair.
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“The first half was tough but we got a bit of a lead there and in the second half I thought we shut them out pretty good.”
Burleigh will now meet NSW Cup premiers Newtown in the NRL State Championship on Sunday.
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