Hard-fought first home win for rugby seniors | Cian Donnellan

UCC 10Bective Rangers 8UCC continued they’re good start to this season’s AIL Division 2A season with an incredibly hard fought win over Bective Rangers in a cold and wet Mardyke last Saturday. The conditions played a massive role in the game with the greasy surface and wet ball making it difficult for either side to really grab an upper hand in a game littered with handling errors from both sides.Of the two sides, Bective started brighter and began putting phases together and attempted an early drop-goal which drifted well wide; but it was from this that UCC registered their first score of the game. A quick 22 drop-out found tighthead prop Brian Scott and, after a few phases, the UCC pack dismantled the Bective scrum to win a penalty that was duly slotted by Sean Óg Murphy. Four minutes later the scores were levelled when handling errors allowed Bective an easy shot at goal that they’re centre duly took.From that point on UCC really came into the game a lot more. Number 8 Willie Ryan was carrying a huge amount of ball time and time again and his delicate off-loads had UCC on the front foot. Ryan himself was unlucky not to get in for a try in the corner when he was on the end of a slick backs move but a knock on in the ruck ended the move close to the Bective line.Although UCC had more chances, their try didn’t come until the 36th minute. As the heavens opened, a sweet move off a lineout in their own half saw Ryan bursting down field. His awareness of Luke Duffy on his outside allowed the centre to send Sylvain Raimondi into the corner for the score. Murphy converted for a 10-3 lead.On the stroke of half time, Ryan was yet again at the heart of the action as he released his back row partner Johnny McCarthy but he was brought down agonisingly close to the line and it came to nothing. Down by 7 points at half time, Bective came out all guns blazing and, almost immediately from the kick-off, they were over for a try. Poor defending let Bective inch closer to the UCC line and then four easy passes across the backline saw the Bective full-back slide over for the try. The conversion somehow managed to lose all momentum mid-flight and bounced off the crossbar much to the relief of the UCC players. That miss would prove to be costly as the match remained scoreless from then on.Both sides, now really struggling with the conditions, began to cancel each other out. UCC were being pinned into their own corners time and time again but were able to withstand the pressure and clear. Ryan continued his lung-busting display with countless runs with ball in hand and on a few occasions was unlucky that the final pass just didn’t go to hand. Meanwhile scrum half Daryl Foley remained solid under every high ball that was sent his way over the course of the game.With 20 minutes remaining, Bective had their best chance to win this game. A break by their Number 8 saw him clear of the UCC defence. UCC were lucky that the only person in support was the Bective hooker. A magnificent scramble defence saw him dragged down on the 5 meter line and a turnover followed.In the final minutes, Luke Duffy was unlucky not to extend UCC’s lead on two occasions. In the first instance, the centre didn’t spot his support on the outside following a blistering break and then near the end, he capitalised on a Bective mistake but he was turned over close to the line.All in all, UCC showed a massive amount of resilience to find the win and this should stand them in good stead for further games through the league campaign.UCC: S Dinan; S Raimondi, N Hodson, L Duffy, O Dennehy; S Óg Murphy, D Foley; P McCabe, K Stokes, B Scott; B Quill, D O’Connell; C Gallagher, J McCarthy, W Ryan.Replacements: M O’Mahony, S Moynihan, D McSweeney, J Fitzgerald, R Barry.