TRINITY COME BACK TO WIN!!!
12/01/2008

Trinity 20pts DLSP 18pts 

After a very shaky first half of the game Trinity came back from 18-6 showing great character to win out by two points on a tacky College Park surface.

DLSP came out and surprised the students by running the ball from everywhere and looked by far the better team in the first half. They scored two tries in the opening 20 minutes, both scores off several phases using the width of the pitch. Trinity out half Johnny Watt kept the home team in touch with two penalties.

As the half progressed Trinity began to come to terms with the high octane DLSP attack They made adjustments to their defence and that seemed to stifle the visitors. DLSP deservedly tacked on another three points just before half time. Apart from one wide backline break when Paul Gillespie looked like scoring in the corner, only to be brought back for a forward pass Trinity contributed very little to the game.

The second half started with another penalty to the visitors which they slotted. Trinity then began to wake up. The forwards won some good go forward ball, and the backs just ran at the DLSP defence who were led by Leinster’s inside centre Mick Byrne. After going wide for several set plays Full back Paul Gillespie sliced through the middle of the defence for a fabulous break, before offloading to supporting inside centre Conor Donohoe who scored under the posts.

Four minutes later Trinity took the lead when after three phases captain and scrum half Joey Burns somehow beat the fringe defence before offloading to out half Johnny Watt running a perfect line to score by the posts.

This try certainly rattled the visitors as the whole dynamic of the game had changed in five minutes. Trinity continued to attack as the visitors visibly were running out of gas. The students were unlucky not to finish three sweeping back line moves that possibly deserved more with the backs and forwards interlinking superbly.

DLSP kept running the ball but the home team were now defending with great intensity, and the visitors never really threatened the Trinity line in the second half.

This was a hugely important win for the students who are now 7th (equal 5th) but only five points out of second place. Next week they host Old Crescent at College Park.

15 Paul Gillespie, 14 Shane Hanratty, 13 Volney Rouse, 12 Conor Donohoe, 11 Killian Stafford, 10 Johnny Watt, 9 Joey Burns, 1 Tristan Goodbody, 2 Ben Cunningham (Alan Mathews 75), 3 James Gethings (Graham Murphy 65), 4 John Byrne (Scott LaValla 62), 5 Max Cantrell, 6 Richard Morrow, 7 Johnny Iliff, 8 Brian Coyle.


AIBL Second Division

Pos Team P W D L F A TB LB Pts
1 U.C.C. 8 8 0 0 156 82 0 0 32
2 Young Munster 8 5 2 1 160 76 2 1 27
3 Belfast Harlequins 8 5 1 2 173 84 1 2 25
4 Highfield 8 5 0 3 146 119 2 2 24
5 D.L.S.P. 8 4 0 4 170 114 3 3 22
6 Malone 8 4 0 4 149 124 2 4 22
7 Dublin University 8 4 2 2 132 121 2 0 22
8 Buccaneers 8 4 0 4 111 109 2 3 21
9 Bective Rangers 8 4 0 4 117 125 2 3 21
10 Ballynahinch 8 4 0 4 105 109 1 2 19
11 Barnhall 8 4 0 4 102 111 0 2 18
12 Clonakilty 8 3 0 5 118 145 1 3 16
13 Wanderers 8 3 0 5 124 143 0 1 13
14 Suttonians 8 2 0 6 101 189 1 2 11
15 Thomond 8 1 1 6 71 151 0 2 8
16 Old Crescent 8 1 0 7 72 205 1 2 7


Other News

A very strong Trinity 2nd XV beat DLSP in Santry 52-7. After their narrow loss against UCD last week, the 2nds played some fine running rugby particularly in the second half.

The Trinity U20s game was cancelled at St Mary’s College. This game has now been rearranged for the 10th February in Templeville Road. DUFC play Marys this week (Sunday) in Santry.

The Trinity U20s B had a great win over top of the league Old Wesley U20s at Santry. The students were behind for the whole game against an organised Wesley team. With five minutes to go Out half Harry Murphy stepped up to kick a forty metre penalty to win the game for the hardworking Trinity team.

The Trinity J3s game was rained out in Clontarf.

The Trinity J4s lost a tight encounter with UCD in Belfield 13-0

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