MIDLETON HOLD OUT!
30/10/2010

Trinity 17pts Midleton 18pts 

 

Trinity lost their third game in a row by a margin of less than two points in College park on Saturday in the AIL Division two game. It was the second game in three where the game was decided on the last kick. It is of course a bitter pill to swallow for the students who are losing games they should be winning.

 

Trinity started brightly playing with good ball control and keeping the ball well. They looked to have scored out wide but the try was pulled back for a forward pass. Midleton then settled into their game of “ keep ball” mixed with good kicking. They executed  this plan very well and had some good inside backs who tested the Trinity inside defence. Trinity however looked stronger in the scrum and line out and pressured in the set piece with good effect.

 

On Midleton’s first sortie into the Trinity 22, they came away with points when Trinity over committed to a defensive ruck which they looked to have won.  Midelton hung on to the ball and scored in the corner. Midleton then had their purple patch and dominated the rest of the half with their simple well organised game plan. They were 13 pts up with another try and a penalty at half time.

 

Trinity threatened with some good rugby but little errors crept into their game and this enabled Midleton to escape without conceding scores.

 

Trinity came back in the second half with a try from Captain Scott LaValla who scored after some good work by the Trinity forwards from close in. Midleton hit back when, from a turnover, they ran the length of the field to score a try against the run of play 18-7. Trinity refused to throw in the towel and played their best rugby of the game continuously breaking the line. After a nice break by Conor Colclough three more players handled before Full back Tim McCoy finished off a superb movement in the corner for a try 18-12 Midleton.

 

The County Cork team were clearly off their feet physically and Trinity threw everything at their guests. The climax of the game ended somewhat controversially on the Midleton line, Trinity had a series of scrums on the visiting team’s goal line. Midleton were clearly in disarray and were doing everything to avoid a pushover try. After two attempts the ball came out as the scrum wheeled illegally with the ref giving advantage to Trinity, and Trinity prop James Gethings capped a fine individual game crashing over from the ensuing ruck. Some referees would have given the advantage to Trinity a “penalty try” under the posts just reward for their dominance and of course an easy kick under the posts on a sticky College park surface. But this referee gave the score wide out, which of course made it a very difficult conversion. Trinity missed the conversion.

 

To lose a game like this shows that the margin between winning and losing is very narrow in this league.

 

Trinity take a week off, and then travel to Limerick to play Old Crescent.

 

Team; 15 Tim McCoy, 14 Neil Hanratty, 13 Conor Colclough, 12 Paul Galbraith (Dave Joyce 50), 11 Shane Hanratty, 10 Ciaran Wade, 9 Michael McLoughlin (Sam Bell 50), 1 Colm Goode (Paul McFeely 60), 2 Mark Murdoch (Craig Telford 65), 3 James Gethings, 4 Pierce Byrne, 5 Colin McDonnell, 6 Alan Mathews (Johnny Iliff 55), 7 Dominic Gallagher, 8 Scott LaValla

 

On Sunday Trinity 2^nd XV went down to Old Wesley at Santry 27-20 in a game where they picked up several injures which hindered the cohesion of the team.

 

Trinity U20s Premier XV lost their first league game of the season 15-13 against a well drilled Old Belvedere in another game that could have gone either way. The difference to the game was that Old Belvedere seemed to have the easier kicks on the gluepot of College Park. On what was a disappointing day for the U20s squad the Pennant XV lost their first league game to a well drilled Seapoint team in Santry 18-12.

 

The Trinity Junior teams did get two impressive wins. The J3s beat RCSI 45-3 and the J4s beat Barnhall 28-3. Coach Eoin McBennett was delighted with his team’s performances.

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