The final league game of the season took place in headquarters on a calm sunny Sunday afternoon against Trinity and the J1 team duly got the job done in achieving top spot in this division. This win now qualifies them for the league playoff game against Saint Mary's who finished second in a tight division. This is probably the right outcome as over the course of the season these two teams were probably the best, taking all games into consideration. The win secures Lansdowne home advantage for that tie and the date is to be arranged.

The game began with the visitors quick out of the blocks in taking the lead after just four minutes when they disrupted a Lansdowne attack gaining good field position and mauling close to the line their wing forward touched down close to the right-hand posts and with the conversion added 7-0. Still finding their stride it took until the fifteenth minute marker for the J1’s to strike back and they did so following a scrum inside the Trinity 22 from which No.8 Louis McGauran picked on the blind side throwing a pass to winger Billy Foley who did the rest and touched down in the right hand corner. The conversion was missed 5-7.

The J1’s were now settling into the game and shortly thereafter a penalty from out half Tom Bohan gave the J1’s the lead at eight points to seven which had followed shortly after a disallowed try from a flowing back movement. The pattern of the game had now been set with huge scrummage dominance coming from the j1’s. There followed a line out inside the Trinity 22 where Rik Van Dijk threw the ball to Conor McMenamin who threw the ball back to Van Dijk who in a training ground manoeuvre bustled over from there to score in the right-hand corner conversion missed. 13-7.

This soon became 18-7 when after good work initially by McGauran, Oisin Devitt scrum half kicked through with the ball being gathered by speedy winger Sean Galvin who finished from there. Bohan added the extras 20-7.

Bohan then added another penalty 23-7. The flood gates were opening by then and following a flowing back movement where the ball found its way to winger Billy Foley who threw an inside pass to fullback Cathal Eddy who touched down. With the conversion added in the blink of an eye the j1’s had stretched away out of sight leading by 30-7 and one felt the game as a contest was over as the first half concluded.

It had been a good display although nothing extraordinary with the dominant scrum making the difference. No doubt better will be needed for the league decider as there were a lot of handling errors and breaks in play as a result.

The second half was to be a rather frantic patchy affair certainly in the third quarter. It looked more like a game of sevens with the ball being thrown around by both teams. In one of these movements, a long pass was thrown across the Trinity back line which was intercepted by Sean Galvin who ran from the halfway line to score under the posts. It left an easy kick for Bohan to stretch the scoreline further to 37-7. 
In fairness to Trinity, it was they who were to score next from open play following a good break by their substitute winger who scored close to the left hand posts and with the conversion meant the scoreline was now reading 37 -14.

Thereafter both teams seemed to be going through the motions as the play became scrappy and disjointed. The only thing of note that happened in this period was that the referee suffered a hamstring injury midway through the second half requiring attention from the Physiotherapist. In fairness to him, he soldiered on to the end of the game even though it looked like he was in a little bit of pain.

With the final quarter entered, it was left to McGauran to score a well-deserved try of his own making as he had played well throughout. This followed a good back interchange between Eddy and Galvin. The conversion was added by Bohan making the score 44-14.

The bench was emptied, and it was one of the substitutes namely prop Oscar Egan who was next to get his name on the scoresheet. He crashed through the trinity defence from close in leaving an easy kick for Bohan. 51-14. The last laugh was to be a third try for Trinity who in open play were useful and never gave up trying in this game. It was scored by their other winger following a good cross field run which pierced the home defence. Final score 51-21. 

Despite Lansdowne coming close to scoring again this was to be the final act on the scoreboard and the final whistle sounded with the objective of reaching the league final obtained and handshakes all round as the 14th and final league game of the regular season had concluded.

This week we saw fine individual performances. Returning from injury winger Sean Galvin who had an all-round outstanding game. The back three, Galvin, Foley and fullback Eddy were all very effective at times in this game. In the forwards McGauran was the standout. He carried a huge amount during the game, scored his try and is a fine player. No doubt he is only going to get better and better, which is good for the senior squad as he is an integral part of it. Mention also for the Lansdowne scrum this week which was completely dominant, and no doubt will be an important factor in the games to come in the coming weeks.

This has been a tight division this season with all teams competitive and it was an exciting final day with activity both at the top and bottom of the table. The J1’s have been the best team in this division who have scored the most amount of points and also conceded the least and our worthy winners of the league with 54 points by three from St Mary's and Terenure both on 51. At the other end, heroics on the final day by UCD mean that they avoid the relegation match which will now take place between Barnhall and Old Wesley to decide the team that goes down this season.

Focus now turns to the Metropolitan Cup which Lansdowne have a bye in the first round and will await the outcome of Old Wesley / Old Belvedere to decide who they will play in the quarterfinal in the coming weeks.

For me it was not the greatest game of the year by any means, but it needed winning to get the top spot and that is what was done. Improvement is needed and there is plenty to work on in training over the coming weeks to get the attitude and tactical play right for the league final again St. Mary's in what promises to be an entertaining match.