DRAMATIC LATE TRY SENDS BELVO TO THE FINAL - Old Belvedere 22 Clontarf 20
This Old Belvedere team certainly know how to keep their supporters on the edge of their seats until the final whistle. Once again, they managed to fashion a winning flourish when all seemed done and dusted. The sense of disbelief at the final whistle was mutual among both sets of supporters – Clontarf once again experiencing a sixth defeat in eight All Ireland League semi-finals when the match seemed in the bag and the feeling among home supporters that miracles really do happen and that Dick Turpin should be made an honorary life member of the Club.
It all stemmed from a Clement Poitrenaud moment by Clontarf’s full back Dara O’Shea who meant to kick safely to touch deep in injury time and seal the game. However, the ball landed in-field on the Old Belvedere 10 metre line and was run back across the line in a last gasp attempt to manufacture something. A long Andy Dunne pass out to Eddie Devitt was grabbed by the right wing, who ran forward and chipped the ball over the head of his opposite number. The ball bounced favourably with both Danny Riordan and Devitt on hand to retrieve the bounce (horror of horrors - would they collide with each other) but no, Eddie grabbed his chance and went over for a glorious winning try – the conversion didn’t matter as the final whistle was already in John Carville’s mouth. Thus, a day that began in a sea of optimism in both camps and an excellent lunch attended by 300 people ended with the home side reaching their first All Ireland Division 1A final and a heartbreaking defeat for Clontarf supporters who, in the best traditions of club rugby, were most generous in acknowledging and congratulating the winning side.
The ground was looking its best in sunshine with a temporary stand erected on the far terrace and a marquee dispensing Uncle Arthur to thirsty punters who stood around in the sun prior to kick-off. The drama commenced before kick-off when Alain Rolland declared himself unfit during the warm up and John Carville stepped in at the last moment and had a fine game, assisted by Kevin Beggs and Brain Montaine on the touchlines. Belvo kicked off toward the Anglesea Road end and the home supporters were hoping that the A game would be unrolled and Belvo would get off to a confident start. However, that did not materialise as Clontarf showed strong intent to control this game and did so in the early exchanges. A speculative run by centre K. Lett at the Belvo defence yielded dividends and a first unconverted try. Dara O’Shea was wide with a penalty after 14 minutes but two minutes later, the excellent Clontarf No 7 O’Mahony took a reverse pass from scrum-half Nolan after a scrum and ran a short distance through the close-in defence for a try that was converted by O’Shea. 0-12 before the completion of the 1st quarter was not in the prepared script for this game. A professional foul on Simon Keogh as he collected a kick ahead resulted in a penalty kick, converted by an ice cool Conal Keane and put points on the board for the home side. A strike against the head, followed by hands in the scrum yielded another penalty opportunity for Conal Keane, duly converted. Clontarf continued to control the ball with Belvo scrapping away for whatever crumbs materialised. When David Mongan, our most potent try scorer, limped off with a hip injury on the half hour, prospects of winning took another hit but former Leinster scrum half Chris Keane came on at scrum half with Simon Keogh moving to the wing and things started to look up again. A further penalty for Belvo for tackling an airborne player, allowed the home side move inside the Clontarf 22. A series of forward rumbles and a determined thrust by Stewart Maguire resulted in another penalty opportunity just on half-time and Conal Keane converted once again to leave the score 12-9 at half-time. This was a very good position for Old Belvedere considering the dominance of Clontarf in the opening half and meant that we were still very much in contention without having played well up to that point.
Just when we expected Belvo to come out with all guns blazing after the 1st half reprieve, disaster struck with ex – Dolphin flanker O’Mahony getting in for another try two minutes after the restart, following a skip pass back movement across the field. Dufficy missed the conversion and at 9-17, it was going to be a long afternoon for the home side.
Hope was once again injected when the ever steady and precise Conal Keane kicked a long penalty in the 46th minute. He was then immediately substituted by Captain Andy Dunne at out-half. This was a game changing moment as there is no doubt that the Keane-Dunne combination at half-back got the back line moving with a cohesion not seen beforehand in the match but one wondered if such a reliable place kicker should not be retained elsewhere on field in a game where penalty opportunities were keeping Belvo in the contest. Another game changing moment occurred soon after when Clontarf winger Keating was yellow carded for tackling a player in the air. This was somewhat unfortunate as a similar offense in the 1st half did not result in a yellow card. It brought back memories of a similar unfortunate aerial yellow card in the semi-final last year against St Mary’s that allowed them finally overrun Belvo and win the game. This error was compounded when B.Reilly, who had just come on to replace Ben Gissing, was also yellow carded close to the Clontarf line and suddenly, Clontarf were defending with 13 men. There were groans around the ground when the resulting line-out throw was crooked. Kevin Buckley came on to replace David Gilchrist. Anxiety hit the home supporters as Clontarf continued to play good attacking rugby with 13 men and there was no sign of a response by Old Belvedere. Keating came back on and finally Belvo got something moving forward with a good long pass by Andy Dunne, taken up by Leo Auva’a who swotted tacklers aside and ran in unopposed for a good try on the right. He tried to run around close to the posts to assist the conversion. Unfortunately, Andy Dunne missed the kick leaving the score at 17-17 and fifteen minutes to go. Clontarf were back to fifteen men shortly after and Karl Miller came on to replace Jonathan Slattery. Neither side made much of an impression for a period and the game looked to be petering out to extra time. Belvo had possession with three minutes to go and home supporters were looking to keep possession and run the clock down and regroup for the restart. Andy tried a short grubber kick which was fielded and Clontarf mounted a final assault. A speculative goal by Dara O’Shea was well wide. However, another attack produced a goal opportunity in a better position. This was bravely charged down and gathered on the ground by Simon Keogh. Clontarf continued a desparate attack and in injury time were awarded a penalty opportunity close in when Belvo were adjudged to have infringed from the side after Clontarf went over the top at a ruck. The kick was duly converted – match over so we thought until……… Belvo led for the first time for less than 10 seconds!
The celebrations went on late into the night and President John Mahoney and Chairman Donal Coyle departed for the Lansdowne FC annual dinner, promising not to be quiet for the night. It was a great day for former President Mark Feely who rejuvenated 1st team rugby in Belvo and commenced our revival as a major force in Irish Club rugby and for Damien Torsney who kept the momentum going. And most of all, it was a great day for the team, who believed in themselves when the going was tough and for the first team management, Gerry Cruise and Owen Deering who have soldiered for years through thick and thin, Mike Kennedy and for Phil Werahiko who has now led both clubs to an All Ireland League final and hopefully will crown his success in two weeks time with victory in the final.
by Niall Pelley
Posted on 18 April 2011.
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