Students snatch dramatic draw

UCD 25 Cork Con 25

Billy Dardis’s dramatic late try and Garry Ringrose’s nerveless conversion rescued a draw for UCD at the Belfield Bowl yesterday.

It was a incredible finish to a game that had looked to be heading towards a home win after tries from Risteard Byrne and Sam Coghlan-Murray had helped UCD to a 15-3 half-time lead. With 13 minutes left, however, and after two tries from substitute Graeme Lawlor, Con were 25-18 ahead.

UCD went 5-0 up inside three minutes put hooker Byrne away in the corner to finish smartly but ten minutes later Gerard Hurley got Con off the mark (7-3).

But the college side extended their lead three minutes before half-time when McNulty and Ringrose again combined to send Coghlan-Murray over in the corner.

After a purposeful start on the resumption, substitute Graeme Lawlor powered on to a UCD clearance to suck in the Students’ defence. Jonathan Holland spotted Robert Jermyn in space on the left wing and impressively found his winger with a cross-field kick.

After UCD had stretched the lead again to eight through another Liam Bourke penalty, scrum-half Hurley loudly vocalised his feeling that his side were being more strictly scrutinised by the officials. The penalty count was 11-4 against Con at that point but referee Mark Patton had stern words for the Con man.

Moments later Con went over for their second try, Lawlor stretching a long arm over the line after a lineout. Lawlor emerged on the blindside after a scrum to touch down on 63 minutes and Luke Cahill looked to have sealed the win when he put Con seven up four minutes later before Dardis’s late heroics salvaged a deserved draw for UCD.

Scorers for UCD: Tries: R Byrne, Coghlan-Murray, Dardis Cons: Ringrose, Bourke Pens: Bourke 2

Scorers for Cork Constitution: Tries: Lawlor 2, Jermyn, Cahill Cons: Hurley Pens: Hurley

UCD: B Dardis; S Coghlan-Murray, G Ringrose, H McNulty, A Byrne; L Bourke, B Holland; G Frayne, R Byrne, L Hyland; R Molony, E MacMahon; P Timmins, J Van Der Flier, S Grannell.

Replacements: G Thornbury for Molony (68), J Murray for Bourke (68), C McQuaid for Holland (70), M Moynihan for Frayne (76), J loughman for Hyland (76).

CORK CONSTITUTION: D Sweetnam; L Duffy, I Dineen, N Hodson, R Jermyn; J Holland, G Hurley; G Duffy, M Abbott, C Corkery; C O’Flaherty, D O’Brien; J Murphy, J Ryan, L Cahill.

Replacements: G Sweeney for Corkery (ht), G Lawlor for O’Brien (ht), S Dwyer for Ryan (64), Corkery for Sweeney (73), A O’Driscoll for Abbott (73)

Referee: Mark Patton