jackrunTRINITY WIN IN LIMERICK!!
Garryowen 14pts Trinity 27pts; October 29th 2016.

Trinity travelled to Limerick for their first ‘out of town’ league game, to play one of Ireland’s iconic clubs Garryowen in the fabulous facility of Dooradoyle.

Things could not have started any worse for the Students when they made two costly handling errors, which resulted in giving the home team 14 gift-wrapped points. The first came from a dropped pass, which got hacked through for the home team to win the chase for the first score after only 2 minutes. The second try only one minute later was an interception, by the Garryowen centre Paedar Collins.

So after only 5 minutes Trinity had dug themselves a massive hole. If the Visitors were rocked by the uncomfortable opening minutes they did not show it. With Garryowen possibly relaxing after a great start they started to get into their shape and began to play at tempo with their multi phase game. Within minutes, after some heavy attack in the Garryowen 22 metre area, Trinity closed the score to 7 points when *8 Tom Ryan crashed over under the posts after some nice carries by wing Colm Hogan and second row Pierce Dargan.

Trinity attacked from all over the field, repeatedly making line breaks with some impressive continuity and tempo. They got deep into Garryowen territory and kept the ball for 20+ phases before being awarded a penalty which out half Jack McDermott duly converted.

Trinity continued to attack in this opening half with a near monopoly of possession in this period, the home team just tackled wave after wave of runners showing great resolve in keeping the students out. When they did get the ball they were pressured by the energetic Trinity defence into making mistakes. But just before half time Trinity second row Pierce Dargan crashed over near the posts after another siege on the hosts line to give his team the lead they would not relinquish 17-14.

With the breeze at their backs in the second half Trinity dominated both possession and territory. McDermott kicked another penalty and crucially missed another one soon after.
Mercurial wing Colm Hogan was next up to score as he ran a great line off his scrum half Dan Joyce, he swerved passed two defenders before running away to score under the posts. At 27-14 and with the elements in their favour Trinity looked poised to push ahead for a bonus point try, but Garryowen dug deep and this combined with the students getting very loose and scrappy making unforced errors all over the field.

Trinity’s stingy defence did step up late on, when they kept out a highly motivated home side searching for a losing bonus point.

This was an impressive result for the students who could not have started more poorly, but the young inexperienced team is proving itself up to sticking in with these professional laden teams. Hopefully they can do the same when the weather turns in late November/December.

Trinity host Lansdowne at College Park next Saturday.

Trinity team: 15 Jack Kelly, 14 Bryan Mollen, 13 Michael Courtney, 12 Kyle Dixon, 11 Colm Hogan, 10 Jack McDermott, 9 Dan Joyce, 1 Eric O’Sullivan, 2 Liam Cronin, 3 Andy Keating, 4 Jack Burke, 5 Pierce Dargan, 6 Sam Pimm, 7 Dermot O’Flynn, 8 Tom Ryan

There were no other matches at the weekend.

On Wednesday, D.U.F.C. Womens XV lost 52-5 to UCC in College Park.