Match Report - Old Belvedere v. Blackrock on 5 February 2011
OLD BELVEDERE SCRAPE PAST BLACKROCK
FEB 5TH 2011 - O.B. 10 BLACKROCK 9
All of the excitement and drama of this game was concentrated in the final 10 minutes as Old Belvedere, 3 -9 down, desperately sought a win against a resolute Blackrock side who had controlled the game throughout on a wet, muddy and miserable afternoon in Anglesea Road. The neon lights of the scoreboard shone brightly through the gloom and rain, admonishing and reminding the home side of the urgent need to step it up once more and with Blackrock 2nd row Alex Dunlop sin-binned for the final seven minutes, Belvo glimpsed an opportunity for a final assault. Waves of mauls went forward to the Blackrock line, repulsed each time. Finally, in the one quality move of the evening with three minutes left, the ball was finally moved left to David Mongan who managed to weave his way through two tackles and in going over the line, had the presence of mind to run inwards towards the posts before dotting down and giving Andy Dunne a reasonable chance to kick the conversion and win the game. Given the cruel weather conditions, a wet ball, a slippy run up and the tenseness of the occasion, this was no easy kick but Andy held it together once again to assuredly stroke the ball between the uprights for the winning score.
The match started at 4.15 pm under lights after the Italy-Ireland game on T.V and a well attended lunch introduced in Italian by President John Mahony, who stayed up half the night before to be tutored by his Italian origin spouse. Centre Rob Keogh kicked a penalty for Blackrock after 6 minutes. With rain pouring down and a water sodden pitch, most of the play in the 1st half was between the 22 metre lines with Blackrock having the better of the exchanges. A strong run down the right wing by Davey Rowan in the 8th minute gave Blackrock a foothold well inside the Belvo 22. A series of drives finally resulted in a penalty which was converted once again by Rob Keogh. Belvo finally got into the Blackrock 22 and a penalty award was converted by Conal Keane in the 32nd minute to make it 3-6. With 3 minutes to half-time, Rock left wing Jan Byrne made a strong solo run, swatting off some feeble tackles and was finally brought to a halt some 10 metres out. Belvo were penalised for not rolling away and Rob Keogh slotted another penalty goal. Blackrock hooker, Cian Culleton was injured and substituted just before the half-time whistle.
The 2nd half was much the same as before with neither side able to impose themselves on the game. The substitute Blackrock hooker was yellow carded after 10 minutes and there was a period of uncontested scrums as the 1st choice hooker was unable to substitute due to injury. With 17 minutes to go, Belvo brought on substitutes and crucially, Andy Dunne moved from scrum-half to outhalf with Graham Flanagan fitting in at the base of the scrum. With 11 minutes to go, Blackrock were awarded another kickable penalty, left of posts and well within range for Rob Keogh who had kicked three flawless penalties. This time, he missed which fatally left the door open for a final assault by Old Belvedere which was gratefully accepted.
So often before, we have saved games and then lost them but it was not going to happen this time as the Belvo pack kept the ball up the jersey for the final two minutes and finally booted it to kingdom come onto the second’s pitch to seal a famous win in the most adverse of circumstances. One of the abiding memories of the final minutes of this game was that of our wonderful Samoan No 8, Leo Auva’a covered in dripping mud, roaring and shouting at his pack to deliver momentum to give him space to run off the back The victory also brought back memories of a similar day and conditions in 1995 and a victory against U.C.D when a ball stuck in the mud and deprived them of a victory which resulted in Old Belvedere bring promoted to Division 1 and U.C.D. relegated from Division 2. Our thanks to referee John Lacey and his team who must have found it very difficult to distinguish who was who in this mud-fest of a game.
One has to feel sorry for Blackrock who turned around a poor performance the previous week with a splendid display. They must be scratching their heads and wondering how they managed to concede four tries in the final 20 minutes in Stradbrook and again lose this game. It didn’t bother Belvo President John Mahony as he happily displayed his mud stained blazer in the bar after hugging all the players. He also collected the Merry Memorial Plate, kindly presented by the family of the late Brendan Merry for an annual match between Blackrock and Old Belvedere.
So, it’s on to Young Munster next weekend in Anglesea Road, who surprised us all with a 6-3 win over Cork Constitution that allowed us regain top spot in the league by 2 pts. Munster’s have good form of late and will be smarting from their 0- 32 defeat by Belvo in Limerick, so it is likely to be a tough, uncompromising game. We need to see more than the usual familiar faces at the game next week and the lads, Phil and Matt deserve a bumper home crowd to cheer us on and achieve a crucial win before the visit to Shannon the following week
Team: D.Riordan, E.Devitt, J. Kennedy, B.Woods (K.Bardon), D. Mongan, C. Keane(A.Dunne). A.Dunne (G.Flanagan), V.Soden(D.Buckley),M.Cooney(D.Gilchrist),S.Maguire,R. Leyden,A.Trennier, K.Millar(D.Moore), J.Risdon. L.Auva’a
~ Written by Niall Pelly
Posted on 07 February 2011.
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