UCD 19 – Clontarf 24

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”
Charles Dickens: A Tale Of Two Cities

A typical first game of the season . Both sides will take some satisfaction from elements of their performance and will be considering a long list of “ work ons “ for the coming week . Clontarf will be happy with their set phases , with scrum and line out functioning comfortably but will hope for more cohesion through phases as the season progresses . Clontarf’s phase building was frequently undone by loose ball control at critical moments . That served to keep a dogged UCD team in the game and never more than one score behind .

UCD opened the scoring with a cheeky line out move , Clontarf responded with a textbook mauled score to Dylan Donnellan  ( who else ) , UCD added another from their number 8 O’Brien who broke from a scrum under the posts and was awarded the touchdown despite strong indications that he bounced rather than placed the ball . Clontarf added another try after good work up the right hand side led to a period of pick and jam which had the inevitable result . Ultimately the game hinged on two plays either side of half-time. At the end of the first half UCD we’re denied in the corner by a superb covering tackle by Cormac Daly and a brave and accurate call by the lines woman who correctly judged that the UCD winger had touched the line before placing the ball . In the first minute of the second half , Matt Darcy cut loose like a man fleeing from a shotgun wedding and found centre partner Courtney who made the line .

There then followed a period of home ascendancy which saw Clontarf pinned in their 22 and firmly on the wrong side of the ref who reduced us to 13 after Daly and Cooney saw yellow . The 13 held out , however , and after a break down the right and a kick ahead by Kearns for touch in the home 22 Dylan Donnellan snaffled a home overthrow in the defensive line out and made it 22 12 to Tarf .
UCD grabbed another after a lovely kick and chase up the left to make it 22 19 with 10 to go but Tarf managed the game to the finish and took the points.

In a game riddled with frustrating inaccuracies , the defensive performance of Hugh Cooney stood out . Making his AIL debut , Cooney was a tower of strength in defence and made multiple
thumping tackles on the wing . Going forward he seems to have that rare ability to beat the first defender and was unlucky not to register a try in the first half . Never mind , he broke his duck with a yellow card !

…… taking one for the team I suspect !