Dolphin deliver at the death

DIVISION TWO champions Dolphin had an uncomfortable afternoon before pipping local rivals University College Cork 20-18 at Musgrave Park on Saturday.

Indeed the students can feel slightly aggrieved, with only an upright denying them a sensational victory.

Six minutes from the end, with UCC 18-13 up, Conor Quaid struck what appeared to be a perfectly aimed drop goal. At the last second the ball drifted away, struck an upright and bounced harmlessly over the Dolphin line.

Three minutes later Dolphin were back in control with a brilliant try from Shane Madigan and subsequent conversion from former UCC star John O’Mahony.

In the end Dolphin’s courage was rewarded with a place in the final of the top four competition at Lansdowne Road next week against Old Crescent, but it was a hard slog for the understrength champions .

Short six of their first-choice team through injury, they always had to play catch-up.

It all started when Conrad O’Sullivan kicked a penalty for UCC after six minutes. O’Mahony equalised 17 minutes later but then Peter Morehan showed plenty of skill to weave his way in for a 28th minute try after Stephen Keogh and O’Sullivan made the hard yards.

Conor Quaid dropped a goal to give College a deserved 11-3 interval lead.

Once the rain eased in the second half, the quality of the game improved and there was plenty of excitement to keep the small crowd enthralled.

Donagh Keeshan, one of ten ex-UCC players in the Dolphin squad, got in for a try four minutes into the second half and O’Mahony added the points to narrow the gap to a point.

But, like Quaid’s late close call with the drop goal, things weren’t any better when O’Mahony’s 54th minute penalty also came back off an upright.

Midway through the half, UCC captain O’Sullivan grabbed a fantastic try at the posts and converted to make it 18-10.

O’Mahony narrowed the gap with a 67th minute penalty and then Madigan got in after sterling work by James Coughlan with O’Mahony adding the crucial two pointer.

Dolphin coach Hamish Adams was delighted to have made it to Lansdowne Road and that the club will have an opportunity to have another day in the sun, when some of the front-line players will be back.

UCC? Well, they contributed everything they could. If Dolphin number eight James Coughlan is a banker to further his rugby career, and he did have an excellent game, the best two players on the pitch on Saturday were Denis Leamy and Stephen Keogh. They more than anyone else in the UCC pack did the most of the damage to Dolphin.

From their point of view it wasn’t enough but they can still be proud of their efforts and a lot more will surely be seen of them in the next few seasons.

DOLPHIN: D. Keeshan, J. Purcell, M. Knowles, M. Manning, D. Whelan, J. O’Mahony, D. O’Mahony, E. Knowles, G. Baylor, J. O’Sullivan, D. O’Callaghan, R. McGrath, S. Madigan, J. Coughlan, D. Murphy. Replacements. R. Abbott for E. Knowles (45, injured), H. Farrelly for Madigan, D. O’Farrell for O’Sullivan (both 60).

UCC: P.O’Brien, R. Lane, P. Morehan, C. O’Sullivan, P. Hurley, C. Quaid, F. Murphy, F. Gateley, J. Rothwell, S. O’Connell, A. Laffan, J.J. Cahill, N. O’Donovan, S. Keogh, D. Leamy. Replacements. M. Cosgrave for O’Donovan (16, injured), P. Quinlan for O’Connell (49), D. Harty for Cahill (67).

Referee. S. McDowell (Ulster).