Letterkenny show Students they ‘must do better’

LETTERKENNY’S 1st XV ground out a hard-fought win over UCC at Dave Gallaher Park at the weekend.

Playing with the breeze in the first half they racked up four converted tries and looked like a team worthy of a place in Q2 when they spun the ball wide.

In reality all the UUC tries came from defensive errors from Letterkenny that were ruthlessly punished.

The first try came directly from the kick off but the Letterkenny team responded well with some aggressive work at the breakdown and in the tackle by Keelan Kriel. This pressure brought play inside the UUC 22 with the first scrum of the afternoon which was telling as the home side put the squeeze on.

The students couldn’t handle the Letterkenny front row of Sean Morris, Shaun McGill and Rae Clarke and after a series of scrums were forced to concede a penalty try converted by Ryan Mortimer.

At every opportunity the students were trying to play with width to avoid the Letterkenny pack and had success with a further three converted tries. Letterkenny’s woes were further compounded when the referee would not let scrum half Conall Sheridan continue after receiving a heavy tackle from the UUC open side.

Despite playing with only 14 men Letterkenny battered around the fringes of the ruck with the forwards to good effect and cleverly used the pick and go to expose some weak defence behind the ruck. Conor Dunleavy managed to barge over to give the home side some hope going into the half-time break. His try was well converted by Mortimer into the breeze.

In the second half both sides made errors but Letterkenny were playing the smarter rugby and looking hungry to get back on terms. Second row Ben Mortimer wasn’t going to outdone by his engine room partner and continued the Letterkenny fightback with a close range try, following an excellent driving maul, which went unconverted. Further pressure from the Letterkenny pack led to a penalty opportunity which was converted by Mortimer to leave the home 6 points adrift with 10 minutes to play.

Despite being almost out on their feet the Letterkenny pack continued to press and gain ground. UUC were scrambling in defence but the play was deep inside the student 22.

A series of dominant Letterkenny scrums failed to produce the desired result and an unfortunate knock on gave the visitors the scrum feed and the opportunity to win the game seemed lost.

However, Letterkenny attacked the scrum and disrupted the service from 9 to 10 resulting in a botched clearance and managed to hold the UUC player up to win a vital scrum 5m out.

With a protracted engagement sequence from the referee the only question now was if there was enough time to try and get the ball over the line.

After a couple of nervous collapsed scrums, with every last ounce of energy they possessed, the Letterkenny pack started to nudge their opponents towards the line.

The UUC flanker panicked and dived for the ball illegally leaving the referee no choice but to award a penalty try. Mortimer held his nerve to slot the ball between the posts for a thoroughly deserved bonus point win for Letterkenny.

Belfast High School Former Pupils are the visitors to Dave Gallaher Park next Saturday in the final league game of the season.