College Tribune | 2nd April 2009
Sport
! Picture by Barry Hennessey
O’Neill hat trick edges out students ! Ben McCormack
UCD
UL Bohemians IrelandU-20internationalfull-backNoel Reid’s injury time try and conversion set up a tense few minutes as the Students in blue went in search of a winner. This sparked the greatest excitement in a game riddled with mistakes. UL Bohemians arrived at Belfield eight points ahead of College and leave with a win in the student derby with a dominating second half display by taking advantage of a gale behind them which saw them run four tries against a hapless UCD.At eight position now they are on the margin of next year’s split which sees eight team’s of thr current campaign going into Division 1A. The first half was all the men in blue, though, as they went about doing the basics right, spreading the ball well and looking to attack when available. This was rewarded in the 10th minute with a penalty, just inside the opposing half. Ireland U-20 international Ian McKinley stepped up and sent the ball through
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Belfield the uprights to give UCD a 3-0 lead. The game displayed many errors on both sides, and despite the referee being very lenient towards College they conceded a penalty early on. A promising Bohemians attack was stopped illegally and fly-half Fergal Lawlor was given an easy opportunity to score, 3-3 after twenty two minutes. UCD responded immediately, gaining quick turn-over ball, and it came to the inspirational Vasily Artemiev on the left wing. He passed a couple of would-be tacklers and left the rest of the UL team for dust as he sprinted to the try line. Reid missed the conversion however and the score remained 8-3 until the end of the half. Bohemians kicked off the second half with the advantageous wind blowing at their backs. They seemed revitalised
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after a dower first half performance and made a quick line break through Mark Butler that nearly made it to the UCD line.UL quickly recycled and made their way across the pitch and again tried to penetrate the blue wall in front of them. Finally, the forwards rumbled over and it was Richie Feeny, the Bohemians prop, who got the try. Lawlor converted to make the score 10-8. By the 49th minute UL had scored another. After constant and well exerted pressure on the UCD 22 they broke through and flanker James O’Neill touched down and again Lawlor made the kick to stretch the score to 17-8. Bohemians were now rampant and UCD were getting overwhelmed as a third try loomed. Six minutes later it did with O’Neill once again going over from short range but the conversion was missed, leaving the score at 22-8. UCD needed a life line to remain close as the last quarter of the game drew closer. Michael Hastings, UCD’s captain and inside centre provided by a cutting line break and a deft offload to a supporting player. This freestyle play led to a penalty in perfect range for
Noel Reid and he provided, slimming the score 22-11. With 12 minutes to go, Bohemians once again stepped it up, searching for their fourth and bonus point try. After some quick ball and sublime running by scrum-half Chris Delooze, UL had an overlap and O’Neill crossed the line for a third time, but a missed conversion gave UCD hope, the score 27-11. UCD began to step up their game and Hastings was once again the instigator, creating room for others to run into. This eventually led to a succession of penalties and a sin-bin for UL’s number 7 Tommy O’Donnell. College opted to keep the in hand and go for broke and after a series of attacks, numbers began to tell on the left wing, allowing
Cian Aherne to pull one back for the desperate home comeback hopes. Reid made the kick bringing the score to 2718 with 6 minutes to go. But it was not to be. With one minute of ordinary time remaining, replacement full-back Aidan McNulty kicked a 45metre penalty to stretch Bohemians lead. Reid’s late try was a mere consolation, a losing bonus point as UCD went down 30-25, slipping to third from bottom with work to do to avoid relegation.
A loss in battle but victory in the war Jordan Daly caught up with Conor Meany to discuss UCD Marian’s Mens Superleague play off results and having their best season in over a decade
Coach Cormac Connor was well aware of the magnitude of the challenge facing his side. Going down to Cork for the second leg of the semi-final play-offs with the score tied to face the highly fancied UCC Demons in their packed out Marydyke stadium was going to be tough. It was made even tougher by an impenetrable Demons defence on the day that spurred Coach Douglas Leichner to claim that his side didn’t allow UCD any clean looks at the basket; Marian were held to just fifty nine points by the eventual triple winners of the Superleague title. The Dublin four side have dished out a couple of twenty point hidings this season but this was the first time they found themselves on the receiving end of an unstoppable onslaught. Conor Meany with a proud family tradition in the club was in the thick of it and led the inspired comeback in the first leg in the UCD sports centre on Saturday the fourteenth; Himself,Luke McCrone and Dan James came on in the second quarter. In the first quarter Marian went down by thirteen points in a horrible start but the threesome came off the bench and gave a huge lift. In the second half again the home side let it slip a little, with Demons creating another lead at the end of the third quarter, start of the fourth
quarter. Then UCD launched a heroic comeback again with huge support from the crowd. “The fans were amazing that night,” Meany says, “We somehow managed to tie the game with Mike Parker scoring a basket with ten seconds to go. It was unusual in that it was the first draw I have been a part of or even heard of in Irish basketball. It was a great night for us because everyone expected Demons to come in and walk it in both legs but we really put it up to them which was great.” One of the Demons’ Americans had been injured before the play offs but he was back for the semi finals. UCD faced the same team in both legs but as Meaney points out, ”The difference in the second leg was we kept Cathal O’Reilly one of their top scorers under wraps but Shane Coughlan,one of their biggest Irish players for the last decade came up huge and really led them. He was their inspirational leader in the second leg. He lead from the start and we just couldn’t deal with it on the day. “ Shane Coughlan and Jarreh Young were lethal for Demons and scored a combined forty six between them in the second crucial leg to kill off Marian’s hopes. “We came out a bit tentative and unsure of ourselves in the first quarter of the second leg in Cork.Luke McCrone came into the game in the second quarter
and they just couldn’t stop him inside. There are a few different dynamics on our team with player pairings. Myself and Luke get on very well on and off the court and have an understanding with each other.” MVP? “Luke McCrone or Dan James in the first leg because Luke gave us such a lift throughout the game but Dan was top scorer with sixteen points. For someone in their first year in the league to come into the semifinal play offs against the best team in the league and score sixteen points is phenomenal. He really did a great job shooting the ball especially down the stretch.” The U20 national Cup winner is still only eighteen! It has been an incredible season for UCD’s basketball club. “It’s the first time we got to the semi-finals of the playoffs for over a decade, we haven’t won the Superleague in thirty two years now. The last time we came that close was the year of the foot and mouth outbreak when the league had to be shut down. It certainly has been our best season in a number of years.” Meany joins the younger players coming through the ranks that have strengthened the squad and Marian plan to build on this season’s success for next year. ”Half of the players we have are still quite young, I’d be older than four of our other players and I’m only twenty-two myself. There
is a lot of room for talent coming through, the club has been in the last three U20 National Cup finals and won this year and this year we got to the semi-finals of the play-offs so there are a lot of positives going into next season already.” UCD Marian Basketball proudly announces its Anniversary Gala Dinner.
UCD's American's Mike Parker and Dave Ryan watch a basket drop into the net.
Club 40th
Location; Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin Date; Saturday, 4 April 2009-0303 Time; 7;30 pm til late Ticket Prices; €75 per Adult, €55 per Student Table of 10; €750. ALL EXCESS PROCEEDS FROM THE NIGHT WILL GO TOWARD THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF BASKETBALL IN THE CLUB
! Picture by Barry Hennessey