UCD 20B’s 31 – 7 Blackrock
Yesterday the 20 B’s successfully completed their penultimate league fixture of the season by beating a determined Blackrock team in Williamstown by 31 point to 7. In recent years yesterday’s victory would have secured the league title for the Under 20 B’s, but this year thanks to Setanta Sports we have the end of season play-offs (and the pitfalls that go with them). Thankfully we have secured a home semi final and it will not be until after the final week’s fixtures (which take place this Sunday) that we will know who we face in the semi final.
As has been the case for most of the season there was a gale blowing during the game and despite of this both teams attempted to move the ball whenever possible. The lack of recent matches for both teams was evident from the start as the first fifteen minutes saw both teams make numerous unforced errors. Collidge finally found some rhythm and enjoyed a purple patch after twenty minutes where they managed to score three converted tries in the next fifteen minutes. The first came from Shane O’Meara after a period of sustained UCD pressure where we were able to hold onto the ball for a number of phases and O’Meara bulldozed his way over from two inches. This try and conversion was duly followed by another three points when Ross O’Brien kicked a penalty from close to the posts. At this stage Collidge had settled down and thanks to the wind and some astute kicking from Daniel Clifford at out half Blackrock were finding it difficult to get out of their twenty two. The pack led by captain Mike O’Sullivan were on top in the scrums and despite the loss of hooker Neal Foley to injury after fifteen minutes the lineout was holding up despite the strong wind. It was good to see Iain Mays back playing after nearly sixteen months out, young Mays and his second row partner Eoin Daly were prevalent in all facets of play and they were ably supported by the back row of Conor Farrell (still celebrating Terenure College’s semi final victory), Daryl Quinn and James McAlister who produced some big hits to stop any Blackrock attacks in their tracks.
UCD got their second try when winger James Finnegan kicked ahead and won the foot race to score in the right hand corner, this followed on some more good work from UCD where both backs & forwards combined to send James away down the right hand touchline. It is clear that James’s Uncle Karl is passing on a few tips from his playing days. This score was magnificently converted by Ross O’Brien from near the right hand touchline. At this stage Blackrock woke up and were able to sustain a period of pressure in the UCD half. It took excellent defence and good discipline from Collidge to keep the home team out. After surviving this period of pressure UCD managed to score a third try when the ball was kept alive and forwards and backs combined to send Shane O’Meara over for his second try. This was duly converted by O’Brien who had clearly brought his kicking boots (unlike prop Fergal Lynch who didn’t bring any boots at all to the match and had to rely on Hugo Boylan running home to get him an old pair). The half time score was twenty four points to nil but Collidge knew they had to start the second half well as Blackrock had the gale at their backs in the second half.
Collidge managed to survive some early Blackrock pressure but continued to put themselves under pressure thanks to some poor handling and an inability to maintain possession for any length of time. Only on three occasions in the second half did UCD manage to hold onto the ball for more than four/five phases and on one of these occasions Shane O’Meara crossed for his hat trick, on the other two occasions there were opportunities to score further tries but poor decisions and poor execution meant these opportunities were not taken. At this stage both teams made numerous substitutions and the fact that Blackrock had (due to injuries) requested at half time to go to uncontested scrums meant the game deteriorated into a stop start affair. Blackrock crossed for a deserved consolation score but from a UCD point of view it was a poor try to concede and could have been prevented. It was great to see the 20 B’s answer to Paul McGrath – Neal Murphy survive both the warm up and thirty minutes of match time, Neal is a bit like Ledley King (Spurs centre back) in the fact he has the legs of a sixty year old.
The 20 B’s wrap up their league fixtures on Sunday with a trip to Malahide before they face into the league semi-finals on Sunday March 22nd.
Once again thanks to the backroom team of Pete Herangi, Tom Field, Sarah Gleeson and Mairead Buckley and to all the non playing team members for their support yesterday. It was also great to see so many parents out in support yesterday.
Finally best wishes to the 20 A’s who face Lansdowne on Sunday in a winner takes all battle for the premier league on Sunday in Belfield, kick off 1500. Please get down and support the A’s on Sunday.
Also congratulations to Vinny Hammond for his brilliant blog from Dubai and the RWC 7’s………it’s a tough life Vinny!
U20 B squad v Blackrock
Fergal Lynch, Neal Foley, Mike O’Sullivan, Hugo Boylan, Eoin Daly, Iain Mays, Sean Tevlin, Conor Farrell, Luke ‘Duche’ Hickey, James McAlister, Tim Gleeson, Daryl Quinn, Shane O’Meara, Mark Conway, Daniel Clifford, Ross O’Brien, David Fahy, Neal Murphy, James Finnegan, Josh Morton, Joe MacKenzie, Jack Dunne.