So another evening of ‘Monday night football’ took place on the all weather pitch in UCD against Navan. Following on from last week’s win against Barnhall, Collidge had another crack at the whip and keeping momentum going in pursuit of top spot in the Metro League J1 Section B. A few late injury concerns and player unavailability required some changes to be made to the team but in general the central core of the team remained the same, with Ger Moran continuing his roll as captain.
The game kicked off at 8pm against a strong and determined Navan side that were clearly better than their league position suggested. In the opening exchanges there were a number of unforced errors and in relatively good conditions given recent climatic issues effecting Ireland. With 10 mins gone a strong break down Collidge’s right wing resulted in a heavy challenge by Cailbhe Doherty, which resulted in his departure from the game with a concussion, from which we hope he recovers quickly. From the resulting ruck Navan moved the ball right and squeezed over the Collidge line but they missed the resulting conversion. Collidge 0 Navan 5.
As the first half rolled on the forward exchanges were fairly heavy impacts, with Barry Lynch and Arthur Houlihan taking on a lot of close drives and short pop balls. Jack Hogan’s tenacity at the breakdown ensured Navan did not have much time to hang around at the break down and eventually Collidge won a penalty within range of the Navan posts and outhalf Simon Gillespie duly did the honours. Collidge 3 Navan 5
Collidge continued the pressure right up to half time but to no avail and they went into the break trailing by two points but clearly wanting to keep the ball moving and play attacking rugby.
Collidge kicked off the second half with a deep kick from Simon Gillespie which resulted in Navan having to clear from their own 22. Ger Moran, playing the captain’s role, rushed to attack the outhalf and duly blocked down the attempted clearance and managed to collect and score the try within the first 30 seconds of the second half. Collidge were no buoyed and not about to let this game slip from their hands. Unfortunately the conversion went astray and Collidge and Navan were tied at 8 points a piece.
With the teams even it was time for the home team to step up a gear. Continued line breaks from centres David Gibbons and Eoghan Conran showed that space existed and Mark Jennings continued snipes from 9 kept the Navan backrow honest. After a period o good rucking and positive quick ball Collidge got in behind Navan close to their line. A strong line from Paddy Conlon in midfield resulted in him crashing over the line and Collidge getting a try and conversion in front of the visitors. However a lot of work was performed by blind side flanker Jack Hogan and number 8 Wes Carter in the build up to this score and is worth of note.
With 20 minutes to go, Collidge decided to press for the victory, the packs combative attitude at ruck time was tough to deal with and by upping the tempo everything began to click. Another penalty by Simon Gillespie stretched the UCD lead to 10 points and not to long afterwards, replacement prop Kieran Finlayson crashed over from a good inside ball under the posts. Informed sources say that this was Kieran’s first try in Collidge colours, so well done Kieran.
In the dying minutes Collidge stretched further with another penalty from Simon Gillespie and despite some brilliant late breaks from the scrum, Wes Cater couldn’t complete his strong display by adding to the points total.
Well done to all of the J1s on another strong performance and up next is Greystones on Monday 30th of November in Greystones.
J1/U23 Team v Navan
1. Ger Moran (Captain), 2. Barry Lynch, 3. Lar McKenna, 4. James Hayes, 5. Arthur Houlihan, 6. Maurice Deasy, 7. Jack Hogan, 8. Wes Carter, 9. Mark Jennings, 10. Simon Gillespie, 11. Robbie Ensor, 12. David Gibbons, 13. Eoghan Conran, 14. Cailbhe Doherty, 15. Kyle Kophamel, 16. Will Hutch, 17. Paddy Conlon, 18. Kieran Finlayson, 19. Peter Riordan, 20. Mark Buckley.