McHugh’s late thumper gets Ireland off on the right foot

Ireland A 24 England A 21

A cannon blast of a penalty goal from the halfway line by Mark McHugh with the last kick of an exhilarating contest found the target and saw the home side to a sensational victory over England in the A international at a packed Donnybrook last night.

It was the kind of gutsy and spirited performance the senior side will need to produce tomorrow if they are to pull off the Grand Slam but the result won’t do the slightest bit of harm in building up morale.

The win was born of a splendid try in the second minute and another in the 73rd, both beautifully engineered by the team as a whole and finished off in style by Paul Shields and Tyrone Howe. England, too, contributed their full share and not even the best efforts of a very fussy Scottish referee Greg Davies could detract from the enjoyment of the occasion.

Ireland’s thundering start had the full house in good voice from the kick-off. It was an all-Ulster effort as James Topping raced down the right wing and broke a couple of tackles before chipping through beautifully for hooker Shields to claim the touchdown with the English defence nowhere.

England gradually gained the initiative and grabbed their first try when O’Meara was penalised for a crooked scrum feed and England full-back Dan Scarbrough kicked through and easily won the race for the touchdown. King converted to make it 13-5 before an O’Meara penalty on the stroke of half-time reduced Ireland’s arrears to five points at the break.

Ireland resumed in impressive fashion and a powerful burst by Donnacha O’Callaghan, well supported by the impressive Simon Easterby, forced England to infringe and O’Meara duly converted his second penalty to leave only two points separating the sides.

But Ireland missed too many first up tackles in a sparkling English movement in the 53rd minute and the way was opened for a second try by Scarbrough. England were good value for their 18-11 lead.

More and more the Irish fans were looking to the likes of O’Callaghan, who made his presence felt with several midfield charges, and Easterby to push England on to the back foot while David Quinlan in the centre was also adding to his burgeoning reputation with a fine performance.

O’Meara’s third penalty kept Ireland very much in touch and then Donnybrook erupted in the 73rd minute. Ireland gained possession on the right just outside the English 22. Barry Everitt threw a long pass to Quinlan who found Tyrone Howe careering up on his left and he left the English defence for dead with an irresistible burst for a try that O’Meara converted.

Ireland were now left to defend a three point advantage.

Not for the first time, but thankfully the last, Mr Davies drew the wrath of the crowd when he pinged Ireland for offside three minutes into stoppage time and this time King made no mistake. Even then, though, the referee had a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the fans and he did so by awarding Ireland a penalty on the halfway line six minutes into stoppage time.

McHugh accepted the responsibility and struck a great kick that went over off the left hand post. 24-21 to Ireland and a potentially memorable weekend was off to the best possible start.

IRELAND: M. McHugh (Connacht); J. Topping (Ulster), M. Mullins (Munster), D. Quinlan (Leinster), T. Howe (Ulster); B. Everitt (London Irish), B. O'Meara (Leinster); E. Byrne (Leinster), P. Shields (Ulster), S. Best (Ulster), D. O'Callaghan (Munster), J. Davidson (Ulster) capt, S. Easterby (Llanelli), K. Dawson (London Irish), D. Dillon (Leinster). Replacements: A. McCullen (Leinster) for Cullen,14 mins; A. Horgan (Munster) for Topping at half time; P. Bracken (Connacht) for Best, 68; M. O'Driscoll (Munster) for O’Callaghan, 70.

ENGLAND: D. Scarbrough (Leeds); P. Christophers (Bristol), F. Waters (Wasps), B. Johnston (Saracens), M. Cueto (Sale); A. King (Wasps), N. Walshe (Sale); M. Worsley (London Irish), M. Regan (Leeds), R. Morris (Northampton), S. Shaw (Wasps), C. Jones (Sale), M. Corry (Leicester), A. Vander (Bath), J. Forrester (Gloucester). Replacements: O. Barkley (Bath) for King 7-17 mins; M. Fitzgerald (Biarritz) for Morris, 19-22 ; H. Vyvyan (Newcastle) for Vander 40; T. Palmer (Leeds) for Jones 69; A. Titterill (Sale) for Regan 76; M. Stephenson (Newcastle) for Waters.