U20 McCorry Cup Semi-final Match Report: Old Belvedere RFC 36 – Clontarf RFC 35

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U20 McCorry Cup Semi-final Match Report: Old Belvedere RFC 36 – Clontarf RFC 35
Sunday 19th April.  U.C.D. Astro.
KO: 15:00
 
This was pure Roy of the Rovers stuff:  a semi-final; 80 minutes played; the last kick of the game; trailing by one point; pressure on!  But Roy is a fictional hero,  Belvo’s Out-half Daragh O’Dwyer is the real deal.  The No. 10 lined up the conversion on the left-hand touchline, the “wrong” side of the pitch for a left-footed kicker.  Throw in a breeze coming from the right, and this is the most difficult kick in rugby.  Cooler than Steve Silvermint in an Arctic blizzard, O’Dwyer took a 3-step run-up and drilled the ball through the posts to claim victory by the narrowest of margins and send Old Belvedere into the McCorry Cup Final.
As expected, Clontarf brought their physical game to the U.C.D. Astro.  The Red & Blues opened their account in the 7th minute after a clean line-break was eventually snuffed out by a covering tackle in the Belvo ’22, but at the expense of a penalty.  Clontarf kicked to the corner and although the Black & Whites defended the line-out maul well, Clontarf recycled and went through the phases to eventually score under the posts.  The conversion was good.  0 – 7.
In the 15th minute, Belvo were back on level terms.  Quick-thinking Scrum-half Chris O’Connor spotted a gap and scorched through the defence to bring play into the ‘Tarf ’22.  Maintaining a high tempo, the ball was moved right and then left, before it reached the hard-running No. 6 Seán Killeen.  From 10m out and with a lot of work to do, Killeen took advantage of a stretched Clontarf defence and bullied a couple of defenders to crash over to the left of the posts.  Daragh O’Dwyer made sure of the extras. 7 – 7.
Clontarf scored their second try in the 27th minute.  From a scrum in the Belvo ’22, the Clontarf No.12 punched a hole in the defence and managed to get his hands free and offloaded to a supporting player who scored under the posts.  The conversion was a formality.  7 – 14.   
Belvo struck back.  Attacking inside the Clontarf ’22 in the 32nd minute, Out-half O’Dwyer spotted the ‘Tarf defence had narrowed up.  He floated a perfect cross-kick into the breadbasket of pacey Right wing JP Breslin who beat the defence on the outside to score in the corner.  The difficult conversion from the touchline was missed.  12 – 14.
The Clontarf response was immediate – scoring two converted tries in quick succession in the 36th and 38th minutes.  The first was from a crash ball off a scrum in the Belvo ’22 which saw the impressive Clontarf No.12 go in under the posts.  The second followed after Clontarf had worked their way into Belvo’s ’22.  Playing patient rugby, ’Tarf managed to stretch the Black & White defence before width was put on the ball and the Clontarf winger scored in the corner. 
The half finished 12 – 28 and Belvo looked like they had a mountain to climb.  At least they could look forward to a diagonal wind at their backs in the second half.
The game’s turning point came in the 50th minute after Daragh O’Dwyer kicked an inch-perfect 50-22 to set up an attacking line-out.  After several infringements, the ’Tarf second row saw Yellow for cynical play.  A tap-penalty was repelled but after several phases, Tight head try-machine Ben Merry burrowed over the line.  Daragh O’Dwyer slotted the conversion to bring the score to 19 – 28.
With their man advantage Belvo were piling on the pressure and raising the tempo.  In the 57th minute, after winning a scrum penalty, razor-sharp No.9 Chris O’Connor reacted quickest with a tap-and-go to crash over the whitewash.  O’Dwyer made sure of the conversion to bring the score to 26 – 28.  Game on!
Back to their full complement, Clontarf were penalised at scrum time in the 67th minute on their 10m line.  O’Dwyer signaled for the posts and his long range effort clipped the inside of the left-hand upright to add the 3 points.  It put Belvo into the lead by the narrowest of margins for the first time in the game.
Clontarf stuck to their task and, agonising for the Black & Whites, scored in the 77th minute after an attack put their Left winger in space and he took advantage of some defensive confusion to score to the left of the posts.  The conversion was added leaving Clontarf with a 6-point lead, 29 – 35, and 90 seconds on the clock.
Somehow Belvo managed to get themselves into an attacking position and, winning a penalty in the Clontarf ’22, opted to tap.  Management, subs and supporters were urging the boys in Black & White to attack the open side to make for an easier conversion.  However, the ball was moved left and quick hands found finishing Hooker Paddy McCarthy who dived over to score in the corner.  Up stepped O’Dwyer, and the boys will be telling their grandchildren about this one in 50 years’ time.
Man of the Match:  No. 10 Daragh O’Dwyer (4C, 1P).