AIL: UCC beat St Mary's College to stay on top of Division 1B

UCC 25 St Mary’s College 20 

THIS Energia All-Ireland League Division 1B affair at the Mardyke on Saturday afternoon saw UCC produce a spirited performance to come from behind and secure the victory against St Mary’s.

Although still early days into the campaign, UCC currently top the table following what has been a bright start to the season overall.

UCC commended this battle with intent and they applied strong early spells of pressure in the opening stages. St Mary’s though proved they were more than up for the challenge and gradually grew into proceedings in the opening half.

Just shy of the midway point of the first half it was the visitors in Mary’s that went into the lead with the opening try of the game.

Adam McEvoy was on hand to race over and secure the try, following good work from a line out and maul in the left-hand corner.

The UCC response was a positive one and they went into the lead on 23 minutes.

From a lovely offload by Sean Condon, on hand was Louis Bruce to race over for the try, which was converted by Daniel Squires.

Mary’s ended the opening half strongly and went ahead through another try from a maul by Liam Corcoran, which was added to with another try from Richard Halpin.

UCC began their second-half surge through a penalty by Daniel Squires. The same man helped to reduce the gap between the teams down to just four points on the hour mark, as UCC grew in belief that a victory could be gained.

Heading into the final quarter of an hour of play UCC went into the lead. Sean Condon was in the right place at the right time to secure the try for the Cork side.

Things then got even better from a UCC perspective as they got another try on 71 minutes. It was a fine charging run down the wing by Killian Coghlan, who showed deft footwork to evade the challenges from the Mary’s players.

Scorers for UCC: Tries: L Bruce, S Condon, K Coghlan. Con: D Squires (2). Pen: D Squires (2).

St Mary’s College: Tries: A McEvoy, R Halpin, L Corcoran. Con: M O’Gara. Pen: M O’Gara.

UCC: L Bruce; S Condon, K Coghlan, D Squires, J O’Leary, C Whooley, A O’Mahony; C Hanlon, B Kingston, D McCarthy, S O’Sullivan, A Brien, P Hyland, J Sheehan, J O’Sullivan.

Subs: D Sheehan, R Duggan, M Bissessar, P McBarron, R O’Donoghue, J Murphy.

ST MARY’S COLLEGE: C Hickey; H Conway, M Fogarty, M O’Gara, S Kilgallen, C Dean, A McEvoy; A Mulvihill, R Halpin, J Reidy Walsh, P Starrett, L Corcoran, D Leane, R Watters, R Foley.

Subs: D Lyons, P Dundon, H MacDonald, E Baxter, A Walsh, T MacMahon, B Hamilton, H Lane.

Referee: Keane Davison.