UCD took to the field on Monday night in the Belfield bowl after what was a considerably tolling weekend of team-building, man-management and networking.
Things began a little shakily with a few mistakes and tough physical confrontations as they struggled to find their feet early on, but thankfully most seemed to recover by the Sunday afternoon as the hangovers began to subside.
After an exchange of penalty kicks each the scores were tied at 0-0 as both missed, but finally the considerable crowd had something to cheer about after a trademark break from James Murray ™ who nipped through a gap. He made about 35 yards and popped to Coco Jambo Hayes who drew in the last defender, the crayon impairing his sight, and unselfishly fed his Terry Jones which left only one option …do a try.
Simon “ah Queen’s you’ve nicked me best mate ya’ have” Gillespie added the conversion to make it 7-0.
After some petit infringements at the breakdown UCD gave up a kick to the posts that Seapoint duly converted to bring themselves back into the game, UCD cancelled this out with another Gillespie penalty after some excellent rucking from Mark “pimp cup” Jennings. The inimitable scrum-half has transformed himself over the last couple of seasons was a thorn in the side of Seapoint all night, taking considerable punishment in the process. Temporary Scrum-half Peter “ah lads I actually can’t go because I have a Wedding/Holiday/Eastenders is on TV” Condon stepped into the number nine breach in the interim. Whilst battling with a considerable size disadvantage Condon acquitted himself admirably in the new role, even doing a spin-pass to great effect on one occasion.
James Murray who, upon noticing his lovely girlfriend was feeling lonely on the sidelines, came over to talk to her for twenty minutes, luckily managing to get himself sin-binned through the half-time break in the process.
Whilst down to 14, UCD ambitiously kicked to the corner, where great lineout work between Liam Hyland, Gareth Crotty and Eoin “be careful who you peg” Daly led to a ferocious maul being formed. From this platform UCD launched a lateral attack though nice interplay between Dave Gibbons and Rory Allwright- an unadvisable but spectacular pass from East 17 enthusiast Allwright fell into Jones’ hands, who completed a 360 pirouette. Dazed and confused by the outrageous and unpredictable footwork, Seapoint gasped as Dr Jones fed Jennings, who capped off a fine support run to score a try in the corner. Gillespie “where’s Lettser, Gav, Pistol and Paddy – I’m lonely I am” Gillespie added the conversion to make it 17-3.
UCD ended the final 20 minutes with spirited defence coming from Matt Nagle, Luke Hickey and replacement Lar McKenna, who has spent the last 6 weeks in a German fitness centre called Oktoberzentrum which has added considerable girth to his hairy frame.
A final Gillespie penalty meant the final score of 20-3 probably reflected the dominance of the UCD play in the match. Next up for UCD is De La Salle Palmerstown next weekend, where collidge have always had a tough contest.
Notices
- Congratulations to this week’s crossword puzzle winner Conal Cremin who received a biscuit tin for his entry.
- Michael O’Sullivan would like to thank all of those who have helped him to acclimatise to the laws “over here”, and that he feels like a fully fledged Oirishman now.
- A deed poll received from Dublin Corporation confirmed that Robbie Ensor has permanently changed his middle name to Fromage, cc’d with the French embassy for clearance.
- On the subject of names Joey Slowey wished for me to point out that that is indeed his real name and not an appropriate Nickname.