Con dig deep for victory

“IT was as if they had just been introduced to each other” was how one wag summed up Cork Constitution’s first-half performance, but the fact they ended up on the right side of the result in this Ulster Bank League Division 1A derby clash said a lot for the visitors’ winning mentality.

Con are often the envy of other clubs for the depth and quality of playing resources at their disposal, as exemplified by the fact they pitched up at Musgrave Park with eight Munster-affiliated players in their starting XV.

The flipside of is the lack of continuity in the team on a week-to-week basis. As was the case here, coach Brian Walsh was unable to finalise his side until the morning of the match.

While being able to parachute such quality into the side is a serious luxury, the Con supremo has extracted plenty of satisfaction from chalking up four wins on the bounce in 2011, despite fielding vastly different sides each week.

“It’s hugely satisfying, and it’s great that fellas get opportunities that maybe they wouldn’t otherwise,” he said. “Sometimes you’re forced into picking somebody that maybe you wouldn’t otherwise… (for example), Rob Clune got a run-out today (his first AIL start) and did very well at full-back.”

However, Con looked anything like a side back-boned by Munster players in the opening stanza, and found themselves 13-3 down at the interval.

Dolphin skipper Barry Keeshan tucked away a penalty and a drop-goal, as well as converting John Quill’s try.

Gerry Hurley’s penalty put Con back in the hunt on the scoreboard, but in real terms, they were well off the pace. “We just didn’t play in the first 20 minutes,” admitted Walsh. “Dolphin, to their credit, took their scores, and we were lucky to be just 10 points down at half-time.”

For Walsh’s opposite number Steve Ford, there were contrasting emotions; frustration at letting a lead slip and falling off their tackles during 13 second-half minutes which yielded 20 points for Con, but pride in a youthful side’s valiant effort to overturn the league’s pace-setters.

“I thought the boys were heroic; they gave everything they possibly could, but what we probably need is a little bit more patience,” he explained.

While Dolphin’s plan to starve Con of possession worked a treat in the first half, the sin-binning of young flanker Rob O’Herlihy just before the break proved a turning point.

Man-of-the-match Frank Cogan crashed over on 44 minutes, Hurley converting to make it a three-point game. Sean Scanlon and Richie Lane then executed a slick one-two down the right before Scanlon showed the Dolphin cover a clean pair of heels for an unconverted score.

Cogan was then twice decisively involved in a move that led to him giving flanker Cathal O’Flaherty the simplest of touchdowns, with Hurley tacking on another penalty to put Con 23-13 in front.

The errors began to creep into a shell-shocked Dolphin’s game; passes went to ground and line-outs weren’t collected, though Keeshan put them back within striking distance with another penalty 20 minutes from time.

Some excellent Con defence held the Dolphin onslaught at bay, but Walsh was nonetheless grateful to the rugby gods.

“To be fair, Dolphin probably deserved to get more (than a bonus point) out of it,” he admitted. “It was tense, typical derby stuff — there was never going to be more than a score in it. We’re glad to be out the other side of it.”

For Ford and Dolphin, a sense of what might have been, but there were plenty crumbs of comfort in the bigger picture.

“We’re a very young unit for Division 1A; I had two 18-year-olds (flanker O’Herlihy and hooker Niall Scannell) starting in the pack today,” he observed.

“But we’ve got some superb young talent in the club. We know the way the AIL is going; we’ve got our own system and our own players, such as Harry Fleming and Cian Bohane. Those boys are the future for us.”

Scorers for Dolphin: J Quill try; B Keeshan con, 2 pens, drp gl.

Scorers for Cork Constitution: F Cogan, S Scanlon, C O’Flaherty try each; G Hurley con, 2 pens.

DOLPHIN: N Walley; C Bohane, B Dennehy, E Moloney, P Hurley; B Keeshan (capt), G O’Keeffe; D Ryan, N Scannell, C Condon; P Murphy, C Rowe; R O’Herlihy, J Quill, R Geoghegan.

Replacements: H Fleming for Moloney (49); T Parker for Dennehy (71, Dennehy for O’Keeffe, 79); R Brosnan for Scannell (77).

CORK CONSTITUTION: S Scanlon; R Lane, T Kenneally, I Dineen, S Zebo; G Hurley, D Williams; D Hurley, D Murray, S Archer; I Nagle, B Hayes; C O’Flaherty, B Cuttriss, F Cogan.

Replacements: A Ryan for Dineen (h/t, inj); R Clune for Williams (52, inj); B Vaughan for Murray (79).

Referee: A Lewis (IRFU).