City of Derry Rugby Club came into their first All Ireland League Fixture of the season at home on Saturday last against University College Cork with high expectation following a five game unbeaten start to the season in the Ulster League. The students who were relegated from AIL Division 1B last season produced one of the best performance from an away team ever seen at Judges Road. They played a brand of running support play that the home team failed to stem as they scored six try’s to Derry’s two and had the four try bonus point in the bag at half time with the Judges Road men playing catch up.
The weather conditions were perfect of Saturday with UCC having the slight wind advantage in the first half. The Cork students took the game to Derry from the off and when the home defence went off side the UCC out half Seán Óg Murphy slotted over the 35 metre penalty. Derry came straight back from the kick-off and had some good possession and should have probably got in for a try but had to settle for a penalty from Richard McCarter which levelled the scores at 3pts all.
UCC warmed to their task and were back in the lead on fifteen minutes when good play from their forwards and poor tackling for the home team allowed their hooker Kieran Stokes in for a try and Murphy converted for a 10pts to 3pts lead. UCC were well on top with Seán Óg Murphy pulling the strings at out half on the back of go forward ball from clean lineout possession a strong scrum. They also had a lively back row of Cathal Gallagher, Jonny McCarty and Willie Ryan who dominated the breakdown and linked beautifully with their backs. UUC pressure told on nineteen minutes, Murphy released centre Kevin Slater and weak tackling allowed him to score between the posts and Murphy converted for a 17pts to 3pts lead.
Derry were struggling to get their hands on the ball and when they did they were forcing passes and errors abounded. Derry possession was turned over on the UCC 22 metre line after twenty seven minutes and a flowing move the length of the pitch saw winger Raimondi score a great team try and with Seán Óg converting the lead was 24pts to 3pts. Derry introduced Sam McAuley and Paul McFeely to strengthen their pack. They eventually got some decent possession and pressed forward but were thwarted on a couple of occasions when penalty decisions went against them. UCC broke out of the temporary stranglehold Derry had on them, Murphy had the final say in the first half when in injury time he skipped pass two weak attempted tackles to touch down for a try which he converted himself to leave the half time score 31pts to 3prs in UCC’s favour and the bonus point secure.
Following the half time break Derry returned in more determined mood and were on the attack immediately. UCC lost their winger Conor Barry to the sin bin on three 3minutes and McCarter found touch inside the 22 from the resulting penalty. Derry won lineout possession through David Houston and the forwards drove over for Sam McAuley to touch down for an unconverted try and it was 31pts to 8pts for UCC. Derry to their credit tried hard but were always on the back foot as some weak first up tackling from Derry allowed the UCC ball carrier to have immediate support players on either side with offloading options all over the place. Derry ran ball from their own goal line on twenty minutes through McCarter who made great ground before finding Stephen Corr in support who offloaded to Jack Caithness who was just tackled into touch on the UCC 22.
Seán Óg Murphy made a great break for UCC on twenty two minutes and with options outside him on the Derry 22 he cleverly passed inside to Kevin Slater to score his second try and with Murphy converting it was 38pts to 8pts. Derry finally produced what they are capable of on twenty six minutes when sustained attacking play saw Andrew Semple combine with Captain David Funston to send Stephen Corr in for a try which McCarter converted and the lead was reduced to 38pts to 15pts. UCC had the final say in the game when they broke from their own half through their star full back Joe Holland and that man again Seán Óg Murphy was on hand to finish off a splendid move with a try and conversion to seal a Man of the Match performance and a resounding victory for the Leesiders by 45pts to 15pts
City of Derry Team V UCC; Chris Shields, Cathal Creggan, Gareth Beattie, Brian Prue, David Houston, Adam Bratton, Tom Patton, Stephen Corr, Andrew Semple, Richard McCarter, Jack Caithness, Ryan Campbell, David Funston, Josh Lewis, Simon Logue.. Replacements; Sam McAuley, Paul McFeely, Steven Jefferson, James
