AIB League: UCD Claim Colours Win
Three-try UCD claimed the bragging rights in Friday’s 54th Annual Colours match as they beat arch rivals Dublin University 25-13 at Donnybrook.
Stephen Grissing crashing over for the game’s opening try
Three-try UCD claimed the bragging rights in Friday’s 54th Annual Colours match as they beat arch rivals Dublin University 25-13 at Donnybrook.
AIB LEAGUE DIVISION ONE: Friday, November 11
UCD 25 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 13, Donnybrook
Scorers: UCD: Tries: S Grissing, E Hickey, R Kearney; Cons: Hickey 2; Pens: Hickey 2
Dublin Uni: Try: P Rowe; Con: J Watt; Pens: D Crotty 2
Stephen Grissing, Eoghan Hickey and substitute Robert Kearney all touched down as College pushed their unbeaten streak in the fixture to ten years – totalling nine wins with last year’s clash a 20-20 draw.
Friday’s meeting also had AIB League Division One points on offer, and the victory sent UCD from twelfth up to seventh in the standings. For Trinity, it was a fifth straight defeat of the new league campaign.
A Hickey cross-field kick put Grissing over in the right corner for the perfect start, and influential fly-half Hickey went over under the Trinity posts on 34 minutes after a set-up from centre Niall Kearns.
That converted score handed John McClean’s side a 15-3 half-time lead with Trinity’s only points coming from the boot of number 10 Donal Crotty.
UCD’s Richard Mandeno claims a line-out ahead of Marc Warburton
UCD, who lost captain Kevin Croke to a yellow card, continued to press in the second half and rubber-stamped the win on 74 minutes when sub Kearney, on for full-back Ross McCarron, dotted down in the left corner.
Crotty had exchanged penalties with Hickey early in the second half, and flanker Philip Rowe’s late try was little more than a consolation score for Tony Smeeth’s Trinity outfit.
UCD: R McCarron (R Kearney half-time); S Grissing, K Kennedy, N Kearns, D McKenna; E Hickey, B O’Riordan; JA Lee (R McCormack 50) , C Geoghegan, K Doyle, B Hall, R Mandeno (L Burke 58), S Crawford, K Croke (capt), K McLaughlin.
DUBLIN UNIVERSITY: P Howard; S Hanratty, G Byron, C Donohue, F Keane (J Watt 68); D Crotty, M D’Arcy (C McShane 78); N Conlon, M Crockett (capt) (M Cooney 78), P Doran-Jones (K O’Neill 65), M Garvey, M Warburton, P Rowe, H Hogan, G Herrera (R Morrow 78).
Referee: David Keane (Leinster)