TRINITY WIN COLOURS - AT LAST!!!
17/11/2006

Trinity 16pts UCD 13pts

After a ten year drought where the nearest they came to winning, was a draw two years ago, Trinity have won the “Colours Trophy” against their old rivals from Belfield.

This game was always going to be close, and it took Trinity out half Johnny Watt three penalty kicks in the final quarter to bring home the spoils to College park. The game was hotly contested in all areas, with UCD attacking with ball in hand from early on. Ireland U19s Out-half Ian Keatley banged over a penalty from 40 metres to give the Belfield boys an early lead.

On ten minutes, Trinity attacked from half way - off a scrum on the far right hand touch line. They executed a planned move brilliantly to put left wing Killian Stafford running hard down the touch line, he in turn passed out of the tackle back inside to Full back Gareth ‘Gaz’ Murphy who passed quickly inside again to right wing Shane Monahan who was supporting from the other wing. Irish U19s wing Monahan still had a bit of work to do as he shrugged off a cover defender as he went across the line for a sensational try that really got the Trinity supporters on their feet. Johnny Watt converted for 7-3 lead.

UCD as expected came back hard, and lay siege to the Trinity goal line, but they could not make any headway against a fired up Trinity defence. All they could manage after huge pressure was a penalty. Trinity continued to look dangerous on the break with their backs opening the Blue defence often, as both teams tried to keep the ball in hand.

Just on half time UCD scored a try when from a line out they drove close to the Trinity line, from the recycle they broke through in the centre for Irish U21s international Fergus McFadden to score by the posts to take his team into a somewhat fortunate 13-7 lead.

With the wind at their back Trinity dominated field position, keeping UCD pegged deep in their half. After being on the back foot for most of the first half the Trinity forwards began to take control. The Trinity line out was 100% on the night, with hooker Matt Crockett hitting all his throws with second rows Max Cantrell and Shane Mullane the eager recipients. Trinity continued to attack retaining the ball for several phases at a time, but the UCD defence worked over time to keep them out. Johnny Watt kicked a penalty for his team to inch closer.

The teams continued to play at speed with attack and counter attack being the game of the day. Both teams tackled heroically as they put their bodies on the line for their Universities. UCD brought on Leinster and Ireland A scrum half Killian Willis at half time to call the shots. He was however well marshalled by the Trinity interior/fringe defence. The game moved into the final ten minutes with UCD hanging on to the narrowest of leads. The crowd gasped with anticipation as Trinity were awarded a penalty and Johnny Watt duly did the business. At 13 -13, the intensity now doubled as the crowd roared on their respective colleges. The Trinity pack now rampant, epitomised with a 40 metre drive in front of the main stand. This is when the two mornings a week conditioning sessions began to kick in as the team in white looked to be the fitter team. Trinity swarmed all over the Belfield lads in search of this elusive first win in ten years. As Captain Brian Hastings said afterwards a draw would have been no good at all. Wingers Shane Monahan and Killian Stafford went oh so close to scoring as Trinity attacked close, up the middle and wide. The forwards were held up twice inches from the UCD line. Eventually the pressure told and UCD infringed. Johnny Watt stepped up and put the ball between the posts to a massive roar. You could almost hear the Trinity supporters hold their breath as the game approached injury time. The Trinity pack now took over, as they kept the ball tight, doing seemingly endless “pick and goes” to wind down the clock, this win had been ten years in coming and the ‘boys in white’ knew they had to close the game out for all those teams who had gone before, and come close but never won. This they did to amazing emotional scenes at the final whistle.

‘Man of the match’ went to hooker Matt Crockett who was spot on with his throwing, ferocious in defence and made metres with ball in hand. On the night it was almost unfair to have a ‘man of the match’ as virtually all the Trinity team deserved the award. The back three of Gaz Murphy, Shane Monahan and Killian Stafford always looked dangerous on the break and worked hard on defence. The midfield of Johhny Watt, Conor Donahue and captain Brian Hastings tackled everything that the illustrious UCD could throw at them, and opened UCD on attack several times. Scrum half Joey Burns must have been very close to ‘man of the match’ with his heroic all round display especially in the second half against Leinster’s Killian Willis. The forwards to a man Tristan Goodbody, Matt Crockett, Andy King, Graham Murphy, Shane Mullane, Roger Young, Max Cantrell, Ross Condron, Shane Young and Peter McFeely scrummaged, rucked and mauled themselves to a stand still. Defensively the whole team improved from previous displays this season by 100%

The monkey is off the back ……..at last!!! Now for the AIL

Trinity team; 15 Gareth Murphy, 14 Shane Monahan, 13 Brian Hastings, 12 Conor Donohue, 11 Killian Stafford. 10 Johnny Watt, 9 Joey Burns, 1 Tristan Goodbody, 2 Matt Crockett, 3 Andy King (Graham Murphy 60), 4 Shane Mullane (Roger Young 60), Max Cantrell, 6 Ross Condron, Shane Young, 8 Peter McFeely, subs Paul Gillespie, George Byron Eddie Hamilton, Marc Cooney,Steve Curtin.

Other news;

Trinity U20s after two postponed games belatedly got their league campaign off to a winning start with 50-15 win over Old Wesley. Next Friday they play undefeated UCD in Belfield at 2.30pm.

Undefeated Trinity U20s B had their game cancelled, with Monkstown pulling out of the league. Next Friday they play UCD at 12.30pm at Belfield.

Trinity Senior 2nds struggled with several key players missing against a superior Greystones outfit losing 58-17.

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