Coach hails ‘immense win’ for Old Belvedere

Dolphin 15 Old Belvedere 18

“We had to dig deep and Dolphin didn’t make it easy for us,” said Werahiko as he lauded centre Conal Keane for snatching victory in the dying seconds.

The visitors didn’t make things easy for themselves when reduced to 14 men after flanker Karl Miller was sent off for a dangerous tackle just before half time. Thereafter Belvedere appeared content to hold out for a draw before Keane, inspirational this season, produced a dramatic late drop goal to secure the spoils.

“It wasn’t the first time Conal has come up with that type of performance when needed,” said the coach, “It’s great to have a kicker like that alongside Andy (Dunne).”

Dolphin coach Steve Ford bemoaned his team’s inability to keep possession at key moments of the game especially when they held a numerical advantage.

“I’d been hammering it home that we must keep the ball but we took the pressure off them and put it back on ourselves too often. They were a man down and it was important for us just to go through the phases. We helped them because all they played for (in) that second 40 minutes was a penalty and we gave them scoring opportunities because we turned over possession.

“Some of our young boys did really well, but it was frustrating that we handed them the opportunities both to stay in the game and then to win it. We have lost three games by less than five points, two by less than two points, and in those situations you just need to protect the ball more. We need to play for the 80 minutes.

Dolphin took the lead with an unconverted 10th minute try from Paul Hurley and continued to dominate territory before grabbing a superb second try from full back Niall Walley — Barry Keeshan knocked over the conversion for a 12 points lead.

Almost as quickly, however, they blew the advantage with Belvedere racing in for tries from Danny Riordan and Stuart Maguire, the second of which was converted by Conal Keane.

Keane knocked over a superb 59th minute drop goal but Dolphin bounced back within two minutes when Keeshan kicked another penalty to level it again at 15-15. Belvedere continued to counter-attack and were rewarded when Keane got his second snap drop goal to secure the points.

DOLPHIN: N Walley, P Hurley, B Dennedy, E Moloney, D Barnes, B Keeshan (captain), G O’Keeffe, R O’Neill, N Scannell, P Ryan, R O’Herlihy, C Rowe, D O’Callaghan, R Allen, R Geoghegan.

Replacements: T Parker for O’Keeffe (injured 19). D Ryan for P. Ryan (48)

OLD BELVEDERE: D Riordan, E Devitt, J Kennedy, C Keane, D Mongan, A Dunne, S Keogh, V Soden, M Cooney, S Maguire, D Moore, A Trennier, K Miller, L Auva’a, J Risdon.

Referee: A Rogan (IRFU)