There was a most unusual conclusion to this fixture in the form of a contested drop goal followed by a penalty goal conceded because of protests regarding the legitimacy of the drop goal in the first place. That sound confusing. Well, it is the way this match finished but overall, this was a really good performance from the J1 team. They had to deal with a lot of adversity in team selection with players being unavailable. Others who did play stepped in and produced a compelling and hugely resolute performance in winning on the road. In so doing, they have climbed for the moment to be joint top of this division.

Team captain for this fixture Oisin Devitt opened the scoring after ten minutes following great go forward ball by the Lansdowne pack, with a sniping run from the side of a ruck to break through and score under the posts with Tom Bohan adding the conversion 7-0. 

The opening exchanges were one way and then the other, and Trinity showed a lot of attacking intention through their backline in particular their right winger and full back. It was from one of these forays after twenty minutes that they drew level with a very good break from their right winger to within yards of the line. The move was then finished off by their forwards with No.7 touching down and with the conversion added brought the scoreline level midway through the first half at 7-7.

The game was proving to be very even with both sides having their moments and it was characterized by a lot of scrums due to knock On’s caused by the greasy handling conditions. The scrum became an important feature of the first half as there were so many of them and it was like a boxing fight with both sides trying to gain control, and one would say that the J1 had marginally the advantage in this area of play. 

An injury followed Lansdowne No.10 Tom Bohan leading to him being replaced by the backs coach Ed O'Keeffe. This showed just how the J1 resources had been stretched to the limit for this fixture in terms of numbers and when called on he stepped in at 10 to his great credit having not played for a while. This helped bring further structure to the Lansdowne back line and helped in general with getting the message onto the field.

The game had just reached the thirty-minute marker when a no arms tackle led to a penalty for trinity, and this was expertly converted by their full back to give them the lead at 10-7. With half time approaching and Lansdowne back on the offence, good work from Ben Popplewell meant the ball found its way into the hands of James Kenny who cut straight through the home defence and touched down close to the right-hand posts and with the conversion added by Conor Lenihan the halftime score was left at 14 -10 in favour of the J1 team.

The first half had been a close affair between two well-matched teams. At half time praise was rightly given to the J1’s for a very good and tight performance and emphasis was placed on the importance of scoring first in the second half. 

The second 40 began with both teams by and large cancelling each other out and again there were several scrums with neither side gaining much advantage. However, after twelve minutes that changed with that man Devitt who had a fine game scoring a critical try. In terms of the overall score in the game Lansdowne had now opened a gap and with Linehan’s conversion it was now 21-10.

The J1’s consolidated their position in the next passages of play and nearing the midway point of the second half increased their lead further with a well taken Lenihan penalty to 24-10 after persistent forward carries. 

The last quarter had arrived, and they continued to manage the game. The bench was emptied with Ronan Shaw coming on for Oscar Egan and Richie Allen coming on for George Morris. The game was petering out until the lively Trinity No.15 scored a very good try breaking through several tackles right up the middle of the Lansdowne defence and with the score under the posts and conversion added brought the scoreline back to 24 -17 with 10 minutes to play.

It must be said that the J1’s were on a going day and the level of defensive tackling and hits was much improved from last week. The clock ticked down towards the conclusion of the match. With the ball just inside the Trinity half and with Lansdowne in possession, several phases brought play closer to the Trinity ‘22. The ball was recycled, and Devitt threw a long pass back to Ed O'Keeffe who was in the pocket. I must be honest and say that my view was blocked but a kick followed which went straight between the uprights for a drop goal. 

However, controversy followed, and the opposition loud appeals said the ball was kicked over not dropped over. The referee gave it, and the score stood pushing the lead out to 27 - 17. There were continued protests from the Trinity players which delayed the game but also used up the clock.

There was to be no restart as the referee because of their protests awarded Lansdowne a penalty on the halfway line. The protests continued and this led to her bringing it forward ten meters. The penalty was now in range in terms of a shot at goal. With the clock running down the obvious thing was to take a shot and that's what the J1 team did with Lenihan expertly landing the penalty 30-17. Time was up and the final whistle followed. It had been a good, dogged performance from the team who showed great pride in playing for the jersey and showing resilience in the face of adversity.

It is hard to single out guys who did well as they all did well. For me though Barry Fitzpatrick was immense in terms of his work rate right throughout the entire 80 minutes also Ben Popplewell carried and scrummaged very well. In the back line Oisin Devitt back to his try scoring exploits from last year and good from Conor Lenihan at out half and Jamie McNulty in the centre. It was also good to see George Morris back from injury who played 55 minutes and performed well.

This win on the road meant that J1’S, who had a game in hand have now drawn level with the top teams in the division which made the win even more important. The attitude of the team that played today was excellent and needs to be bottled and stored for the next day. Focus now turns to three further fixtures between now and the Christmas break and the first of those is against Terenure away who we played in the opening fixture of this campaign. By way of conclusion, the win today against the odds demonstrated great team spirit from this group who really played for each other and took no backward steps.

 
Match Report - John Kilroy