Both teams having lost narrowly in the first round of the AIL went into this fixture heavily motivated having both narrowly lost their opening fixtures in the All Ireland League. UCD got off to a flyer of a start with a well executed exit from the kick off, they defended Lansdowne’s opening plays well and won a lineout on the Lansdowne 10 metre line. A well executed lineout was swiftly moved wide from left to right and Charlie Molony dived over to score their first try with only 2 minutes gone. The subsequent conversion was narrowly wide to leave the visitors 5-0 up as people were still finding their place around the pitch. 

The next 20 minutes saw lots of energy in attack and defence from both teams but neither side being clinical enough to score. UCD will certainly rue a few missed chances over this period including a great counter attack with Bobby Sheehan (our president’s nephew) at the heart of one such effort as UCD ran almost the length of the pitch only to be halted just a few yards short of our try line after their ball carrier lost his feet. Lansdowne definitely had a bit of an edge at the set piece and seemed to be having greater success with turnovers as well. One such turnover led to a long distance penalty attempt from Stephen Madigan which drifted just left of the posts however Lansdowne were able to take advantage of the College clearance kick to establish themselves in the UCD 22 albeit with a UCD lineout. Jack Treanor who had an excellent game was able to snaffle the ball from an over thrown lineout and drove forward toward the UCD line, Juan Buekes kept the momentum going with another hard drive, the following ruck was quickly recycled and James Kenny took advantage of the lack of fringe defence at the ruck to run in for an easy try under the posts which Madigan duly converted to make it 7-5 to the home side. 

Now it was Lansdowne’s time to counter attack. Another inaccurate lineout ball from UCD this time on our own 5 metre line saw Paul Wilson steal the ball and charge out of our 22. The ball got moved wide with Hugo McLaughlin making great ground before he was tackled close to the UCD 10m line. Jerry Cahir drove it further up from the ruck and then some great handling by forwards and backs alike saw Jack Treanor put away by Cillian Redmond into the left corner for a fantastic try our second of the day. 12-5 Lansdowne. 

The second half started a bit like the first half had done with UCD quickly out of the traps and countering off our clearance kick from the kick-off and a super break from the lively UCD 9, Thomas Quinn saw fullback Evan Moynihan touch down for an unconverted try in the left corner 12-10. It was Lansdowne now who looked to step it up a gear or two but again not quite accurate enough to make it count. But the pressure was mounting and a scrum penalty outside the 22 gave Madigan the perfect opportunity to extend our lead which he duly did, 15-10. UCD were largely confined to their own half now and more pressure saw them concede another ruck penalty and Madigan slotted it over to put us two scores ahead with a little over ten minutes left. 

Another midfield scrum another opportunity. This time replacement 9 Tadgh Brophy moved the ball left to Andy Marks who weaved his way through the UCD defence until getting grounded on the 22. UCD managed to turnover the ball off the next movement but no problem as their kick out of the 22 was gratefully received by Hugo McLaughlin who sent it onto Harry O’Riordan and the looping Cathal Eddy still had plenty to do when he received O’Riordan’s pass. Some brilliant footwork saw him scythe through the UCD defence and score just right of the posts to copper fasten Lansdowne’s lead, 25-10. The ref would blow a few minutes later for full-time.
An exciting game with loads of talent on display. Definitely lots of potential for both teams to capitalise on going forward. Next up we face Terenure in Lakelands for what promises to be a cracker of a game. Earn your Lansdowne Stripes and get up to Lakelands to cheer on the lads !

LANSDOWNE 25 UCD 10, Lansdowne Road
Scorers:
Lansdowne: Tries: James Kenny, Jack Treanor, Cathal Eddy: Cons: Stephen Madigan 2; Pens: Stephen Madigan 2
UCD: Tries: Charlie Molony, Tom Murtagh
 
HT: Lansdowne 12 UCD 5

LANSDOWNE: Hugo McLaughlin; Cathal Eddy, Andy Marks, Rory Parata, Cillian Redmond; Stephen Madigan, James Kenny; Jerry Cahir, Jack Treanor, Greg McGrath, Ruairi Clarke, Juan Beukes, Jack Cooke (capt), Paul Wilson, Hardus van Eeden.
Replacements: Chris Poole, Tom Connolly, Clive Ross, Liam Molony, Tadhg Brophy, Harry O’Riordan.

UCD: Tom Murtagh; Charlie Molony, Tim Corkery, Daragh Gilbourne, Luka Hassett; James Tarrant (capt), Thomas Quinn; Tom O’Riordan, Mikey Yarr, Rory McGuire, Michael Colreavy, Matt Healy, Bobby Sheehan, Conor Tonge, Dan Barron.
Replacements: Chris Hennessy, Hugo O’Malley, Andrew Sparrow, Rory Byrne, James Sherwin, Evan Moynihan.

Referee: Chris Busby