There was a group of young people dancing on the cricket pitch as Dublin University Football Club’s (DUFC) panel ran out onto College Park, to face last season’s All Ireland League Winners and Club of the Year, Cork Constitution. From the dancers, balletic grace and stillness. From the forwards of Cork Con, brawn and brute force. Trinity was a game opponent, competitive throughout, but here the visiting pack slipped into a higher gear for several decisive moments in the first half and put the win out of reach with a bonus point score in the second.
It only took four minutes for Cork to open the scoring, after a powerful maul won the team a penalty, which was kicked into the corner. Down by the Science Gallery end of the pitch, Cork drove forward once more from the lineout and ploughed through Trinity and over the line. Cork’s jerseys are sponsored by Hyundai and their pack played like they had hydraulics, such was the power generated at every maul.
Cork’s outhalf made short work of the conversion, after an equally short run-up, and Cork had a blueprint for the rest of the game. Unfortunately for Trinity, outhalf James Fennelly was forced off after just 15 minutes after taking a knee to the head going into contact. He later passed all of the head injury assessments and should be fit to play again soon. Christian Byrne, who came in to replace him, hadn’t been expecting to play at all after being on reserve, but filled in admirably against one of the top sides in the division.
While Fennelly’s injury was the result of misfortune, Cork’s next try was entirely avoidable. After Cork knocked on 10 yards out from Trinity’s try line, Angus Lloyd put the ball in for a home scrum. Seconds later, Cork Con were celebrating, having powered Trinity out of the way to dive on the loose ball. A swish of Cork’s outhalf’s left boot secured the extras.
Trinity then finally demonstrated the attacking play it has in its repertoire, with Sebastian Fromm driving hard from centre at the visitors’ defence. Tackled once, he sprang back up to bring the ball within the Cork 22, exchanging passes with forward Sam Pim as he did so. Fellow centre and captain Michael Courtney then showed explosive strength to break for the try line, sitting a would-be tackler on his backside with a thumping charge. He was brought down just before the line, but it was enough to stall Trinity’s momentum. After trying in vain to break down a resolute defence through several phases, the home side took its points from a penalty conceded in front of the posts.
While it was good to have points on the board, Trinity would need to show more flair and guile going forward to score the try they so desperately needed to get back in the game. Instead, after yet another maul in midfield, Cork surged forward to dot down behind the paint for its third. The score at the interval read 21-3.
The second half was a much more balanced affair, as Trinity’s players found their passing rhythm and Cork conserved the lead with only the occasional foray out of its own half. Trinity enjoyed its best period of play around the 60-minute mark, after the team’s forwards suddenly tore up the script. From their scrum, they sent the Cork pack backpedalling, and raised a cheer around the pitch from the Trinity supporters, who had scant fare to applaud all day. Their tails up, a period of crisp passing and some driving running, from Courtney and winger Michael Silvester in particular, put the Cork players under pressure as the game entered in final stages.
However, it was the visitors who broke the second-half stalemate and once again, the try was a cheap one to concede from Trinity’s perspective. A penalty intended for touch was caught before the line by their winger, who accelerated through a gap in the defence, before two sharp offloads saw a substitute forward barrel his way over the line in the Players’ Theatre corner of the pitch.
Trinity came back for one last frenzied attack, but perhaps fittingly, it fell apart before the try line after a fumbled pass. Sitting one place above bottom in the All-Ireland League, DUFC next face St Mary’s College, which lost badly to high-fliers Young Munster today, 51-7. As DUFC and St Mary’s are level on points, the contest will be a crucial clash in the battle to avoid relegation.
