Lansdowne FC v Dublin University FC
Energia AIL Division 1 A
Saturday 27th January 2024
Aviva Stadium back pitch
Lansdowne 31 – 19 DUFC
A clinical first half from Lansdowne saw them win convincingly over a revived Trinity team. Following their convincing win over Shannon the previous week (their first league win of the season) Trinity travelled to Lansdowne with a renewed self confidence and self-belief. This was clearly at the front of the Lansdowne player’s minds as they began this match in a ruthless and determined fashion. Just 4 minutes into the match Lansdowne were awarded a lineout on their own 10m line which they took off the top. Stephen Madigan wary of the Trinity blitz defence, chipped the ball over for Andy Marks to soccer style control the bouncing ball with his right foot and regather, and pass onto winger Peter Sullivan who drew the last Trinity defender before passing onto Tom Barry hugging the right hand touchline ran in from the Trinity 22 line to score in the corner 5-0.
Another lineout was to provide Lansdowne’s next score with Rory Parata running a hard line off the back of the lineout, to take a pass from Harry Van Eeden and crash over to score. This time Stephen Madigan made good with the conversion and the score was 12-0 with about 7 minutes gone. What a start !! Just 5 or 6 minutes later Lansdowne won another lineout (bit of a theme developing here) about 7m out. This time they chose to drive the maul and just as it looked as if the maul might collapse Tom Barry spun off from the back of the maul to dive over for Lansdowne’s 3rd try and his 2nd of the day. Once again Madigan’s conversion was good and Lansdowne led 19-0. Lansdowne were enjoying themselves and only 4 minutes later No. 8 Harry Van Eeden broke off another close in lineout to be stopped by 2 Trinity men 5 Metres out. Clive Ross drove it up again, and scrum half Jack Matthews quickly distributed the ball to Madigan who hit Andy Marks in space with a skip pass who duly put Sean Galvin away in the corner for the bonus point try after only 17 minutes!
After such a great start it’s understandable to take the foot off the gas a little, and it was a lapse in concentration that gifted Trinity their first score of the game after 30 minutes. Trinity fielded a long kick from Lansdowne deep inside their 22 and kicked out to the Lansdowne halfway line. As Lansdowne looked to counter attack an ill judged pass to an unexpecting player saw the ball bounce off the player only for Trinity winger (and former Lansdowne youths player) Davy Colbert to scoop the ball up and run in for an easy try in the right hand corner to leave the score line 24-5. Half-time came and went and we saw a few changes in both teams with notably Leinster player’s Charlie Tector, Temi Lasisi & Paddy McCarthy coming into Lansdowne & Trinity’s respective teams. All three of them had a great impact with Lasisi at the heart of the maul drive that opened up the scoring in the 2nd half with Ruairi Clarke driving over to put Lansdowne 31-5 ahead 5 minutes into the half.
The game ebbed and flowed and oddly we didn’t see another score for almost 20 minutes, when the Trinity outside centre made use of the space that the yellow carded Lansdowne man had provided and touched down for Trinity to claw their way back to 31-12. Trinity seemed determined to fight their way back into the game, but Lansdowne weren’t prepared to accommodate this as they defended stubbornly. It was only with 5 minutes to go that the Trinity hooker got over for a 3rd try. Lansdowne closed out the final minutes giving nothing in defence, and probing the Trinity defence to seal another 5 point win and close the gap to Clontarf and Cork Con.
Next up we play Shannon away in another must win game! The Lansdowne Mgmt. and Players would really appreciate your support in Thomond for this one.
LANSDOWNE 31 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 19, Aviva Stadium back pitch
Scorers: Lansdowne: Tries: Tom Barry 2, Rory Parata, Sean Galvin, Ruairi Clarke; Cons: Stephen Madigan 2, Charlie Tector
Dublin University: Tries: Davy Colbert, Charlie Beckett, Matthew Lynch; Cons: Matthew Lynch 2
HT: Lansdowne 24 Dublin University 5
LANSDOWNE: Cathal Eddy; Peter Sullivan, Andy Marks, Rory Parata, Sean Galvin; Stephen Madigan, Jack Matthews; George Morris, Tom Barry, Greg McGrath, Jack Cooke (capt), Ruairi Clarke, Clive Ross, Barry Fitzpatrick, Hardus van Eeden.
Replacements: Luke Thompson, Temi Lasisi, Steve Walshe, Donough Lawlor, James Kenny, Charlie Tector.
DUBLIN UNIVERSITY: Harry Colbert; Davy Colbert, Charlie Beckett, Louis McDonough, James Dillon; Matthew Lynch, Oscar Cawley; Jerry Cahir, Zach Baird, Cole Kelly, Dan Barron, Jack Kearney, Aaron Coleman, Diarmuid McCormack (capt), John Vinson.
Replacements: Conall Henchy, Paddy McCarthy, Kev Jackson, David Walsh, Cormac King, Jules Fenelon.
REFEREE: Sam Holt
Match Report – Stephen Rooney
