On a chilly afternoon in Santry, Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) women’s team was pipped in the dying moments by a resilient Navan RFC side. Trinity went into the game off the back of a 71-0 hammering at the hands of Institute of Technology, Carlow and this game didn’t start in a promising way. After 12 minutes Trinity was 12-0 down, conceding two tries in quick succession.
The game looked like it could very easily slip away from Trinity. Navan was spending a lot of time in Trinity’s half and when Trinity did gain territory the team wasn’t able to capitalize. Despite this it was clear Trinity’s line breaks were causing problems for the Navan defence. After 30 minutes, Niamh O’Kelly Lynch got the ball at the halfway point and glided by numerous Navan jerseys. She was tackled just short of the line and the ball was turned over. Minutes later Trinity regained possession and O’Kelly Lynch got another chance to run at the Navan defence, this time touching down near the posts, giving captain Molly Boyne an easy conversion.
Trinity was firmly back in contention now and took control of the game. Another great line break from O’Kelly Lynch brought the play up to the Navan 22 with a few minutes left in the first half. Some quick passing between Trinity’s Eimear Ryan and Aoise Tormey Murphy put Tormey Murphy in to level the game.
Trinity’s third try of the game came once again from O’Kelly Lynch, who got possession at the halfway line again and eluded several would-be Navan tacklers before touching the ball down underneath the posts. Boyne tapped over the conversion to put Trinity 19-12 up going into the second half.
Navan started the stronger of the two teams and after 15 minutes had gotten two unconverted tries back to put them three points ahead. After the second try Navan was slow to get out of their huddle and Trinity’s quick kick-off took them by surprise, giving Trinity some much needed territory. Trinity’s Isa Hafid took advantage of this, racing past the Navan backs to touch down for Trinity’s fourth try, making it 24-22 to the home side.
With 15 minutes to go, Navan took the lead again with another try before Trinity drew level five minutes later. The final minutes of the game saw frantic defensive efforts from Trinity who defended phase after phase of Navan attacks. Trinity could not hold out and in the dying moments, Navan snatched the victory with a try in the corner. The game finished 29-34 to the visitors.
Trinity made some great line breaks today and showed a lot of grit to come back after such a crushing defeat against IT Carlow. To improve on this performance, the team needs to be stronger defensively and cut down on missed tackles. Regardless they can count themselves unlucky to come out of that game without at least a draw and should be encouraged by a team performance featuring plenty of positives.
