In what was an end-to-end affair, Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) snatched a win against University College Cork (UCC) in a close tie in College Park today. The 31-29 victory leaves Trinity in fifth place in the All-Ireland League, five points ahead of college rivals University College Dublin (UCD).
Starting well, Trinity exerted steady pressure on the visitors’ tryline and forced UCC into conceding an early penalty. However, DUFC failed to capitalise with the kick rebounding off the post. Despite mounting several attacks, Trinity appeared to be continually stuck on the Cork side’s 22.
Something had to give and Trinity eventually went over for their first try. After being awarded a five-metre scrum, Niall O’Riordan dived over the line, with Michael O’Kennedy making short work of the conversion, putting the home side up by seven.
UCC’s lot did not improve. Colm Hogan and James Hickey epitomized Trinity’s distinctive running game and caused havoc for the UCC defence. From their interplay, Trinity won a lineout, which was secured and passed out to Phil Murphy who burst through the UCC line. He was stopped just short of scoring but Ryan Baird was able to finish off his hard work. Another perfect conversion from O’Kennedy gave Trinity a 14-0 lead.
With a strong lead secured, Trinity allowed their minds to wander from the game at hand and gave UCC enough space to rally and hit back. The Cork side won a scrum 10m out from the DUFC tryline. After sustained pressure, UCC eventually wore down Trinity’s defensive efforts and went over for a converted try.
Looking visibly rattled, DUFC kicked it straight into touch from the kick-off and gave a penalty away after the ensuing 50m line scrum. UCC opted to kick and reduced the deficit to four as halftime approached.
Any onlooker would have assumed that Trinity were desperate to get into the dressing rooms as UCC continued to look dangerous. However, shortly after the UCC penalty Johnny McKeown tore down the line into the UCC 22. Hogan picked up the ball from there and stormed over for Trinity’s third converted try.
UCC had one last sting in the tail just before the halftime whistle. Off of a box kick from Rowan Osbourne, UCC were able to break through the Trinity defence and once again reduce the deficit back down to four. As the halftime whistle went, UCC looked stronger and more confident than the homeside despite the 21-17 scoreline.
The second half started slower than the first. Both teams seemed happy to play for territory, booting the ball back and forth to each other. Eventually the deadlock was broken by another UCC try, this time off of a maul. The conversion was missed but, regardless, UCC were ahead of Trinity for the first time in the game.
Trinity were forced to compose themselves, and it was O’Kennedy who broke through the UCC line, only to see his efforts halted, with the ball turned over as he tried to offload. Trinity persevered though and battered through several phases metres from the UCC tryline. Giuseppe Coyne eventually managed to pound over to put the homeside ahead again. Fennelly put over the conversion with little fanfare after replacing O’Kennedy a few minutes beforehand.
Trinity got another boost with 10 minutes to go. A well-placed kick gave the side a decent attacking platform to work off in the UCC half. Indiscipline from UCC led to another Trinity penalty which was deftly knocked over by Fennelly to put Trinity nine points ahead.
The final moments of the game saw a flurry of activity from the UCC side as they rallied for another try to leave the deficit at just two points. A last-minute UCC penalty could have seen a very different outcome for DUFC and left them rueing many mistakes but the pressure of the evening saw the kick fall just short.
Trinity remains at fifth place after the win. With only four points between them and Clontarf and Garryowen who sit at third and fourth place respectively, the result means that Trinity are still in contention for a playoff spot.
