TRINITY GO CLOSE AGAIN!
19/02/2011

Ballymena 26pts Trinity 19pts;

Trinity travelled to Ulster for the fourth and final time this season, and for the fourth time produced a good performance but did not come away with the desired result.

Trinity lost this game in the first half when  mentally they did not get off the bus. Ballymena who are in the running for promotion, with four or five Ulster A players in their ranks ran amok against a poor defensive effort from the students in this period. Trinity were fortunate to be only down by 10 pts at half time 19-9, James O’Donoghue kicking the 3 penalties for the visitors to keep them in touch.

In the second half Trinity came out with a different attitude and dominated much of the game particularly in the last 30 minutes. Ballymena did score one more “gift” of a try early on in the second half and things looked very grim for the hapless Students.

After conceding this try, Trinity started stringing some phases together attacking with more innovation. Ballymena,  throughout the game,  tended to just infringe and give away penalties rather than tries when their line came under intense pressure. O’Donoghue kicked one more penalty and this was followed by some good attacking pattern by the students.

Scrum half Mick McLoughlin scored after several minutes camped on the home team’s line. At 26-19 the students looked good for at least a draw and played some exhilarating rugby from all over the field with centre Tim McCoy and full back James O’Donoghue having impressive breaks with ball in hand. But a combination of wrong decision making and scrambling home defence kept them out. The game ended with wing Niyi Adeolokun being tackled into the corner flag after over 20 phases of play.

The students were left kicking themselves again at the end of the game, but they only have to look at the first half to see why they lost a very winnable game.

Trinity Full back James O’Donoghue was voted “man of the match” by the home team officials.

15 James O’Donoghue, 14 Neil Hanratty (Niyi Adeolokun 60), 13 Ciaran Wade, 12 Tim McCoy, 11 Shane Hanratty, 10 Dave Joyce, 9 Sam Bell (Mick McLoughlin 50) , 1 Ian Hirst (Paddy McCabe 60), 2 Mark Murdoch, 3 James Gethings, 4 Colin MacDonnell, 5 Pierce Byrne, 6 Scott LaValla, 7 Dominic Gallagher (Eamon Guinan 25), 8 Alan Mathews;

On Sunday the two Trinity U20s teams had solid wins. The Trinity U20s Premier XV beat a competitive well coached Blackrock College U20s 27-3 in the JP Fanagan Super Six. They got the fourth try worth a bonus point in the last five minutes. Considering the conditions Trinity played some good rugby on the day and were deserved winners against a scrappy visiting team who had beaten “Super Six” winners Clontarf the week before. This win guarantees Trinity at least an All Ireland play off spot with the “Middle Six” winners St Marys in three weeks time. They still have two more games to move up the table  - against UCD (next Sunday) and Clontarf the week after .

Trinity Pennant XV beat Suttonians 17-10 in Sutton. The Pennant XV struggled to put away a ‘game’ home team. They will have to improve for next week as they host DLSP who are on a spot below them in the league. The Pennant XV need to win on Sunday to guarantee them a quarter Final spot in the Leinster U20s Pennant Play offs.

 

The J3s lost to Section Leaders, Old Wesley, 22-10 in a highly competitive game in Donnybrook on Friday night.

 

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