Old Belvedere Shake Off Lively Cooke Challenge For Fifth Straight Win

Second-from-bottom Cooke produced a much-improved performance at Ollie Campbell Park, but two tries from Leinster hooker Lisa Callan propelled Old Belvedere to a 31-17 bonus point win.

ENERGIA ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE WOMEN’S DIVISION:

Saturday, December 6 –

OLD BELVEDERE 31 COOKE 17, Ollie Campbell Park
Scorers: Old Belvedere: Tries: Lisa Callan 2, Orlaith McAuliffe, Lesley Ring, Emma Kelly; Cons: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton 2, Hazel Simmons
Cooke: Tries: Sophie Barrett, Megan Simpson, Shola Iluyemi; Con: Amanda Morton
HT: Old Belvedere 14 Cooke 5

Callan book-ended the first half with converted tries, the first of them from a well-executed 12th-minute maul. Cooke were very much in contention, their impressive ball retention leaving it 14-5 at half-time with Sophie Barrett touching down.

The Belfast outfit tallied up three tries, with captain Megan Simpson and Shola Iluyemi cancelling out scores from Orlaith McAuliffe and Lesley Ring, yet Emma Kelly’s 69th-minute effort proved decisive for Old Belvedere.

A fifth successive Energia All-Ireland League victory for Fiona Hayes’ side has moved them up to third in the table. Cooke are back at home in next week’s final round before Christmas, hosting second-placed Blackrock College.

Cooke started very well in wet conditions, building phases in attack and getting the strong-carrying Barrett on the ball. The Ireland Under-20 prop connected with Bronach Cassidy on a promising break, and Laura Scott also stole a lineout.

Play was mostly confined to the Old Belvedere half until Leah Nealon followed up on an Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton kick to force a turnover penalty. The forwards did the rest, a determined lineout drive landing Callan over the whitewash for an opening converted try.

Belvedere began to threaten with more regularity, and Cooke’s scramble defence managed to hold up winger Nealon out wide. Shortly afterwards, number 8 Simpson’s interception close to her own try-line saw the visitors keep the deficit at seven points.

Scott showed her pace in a break from a scrum, Cooke soon earning a penalty to build from a lineout inside ‘Belvo’s 22. Their pack strung together a series of carries which ended with Barrett burrowing over in the 29th minute.

Kelly and Emily Byrne both got over the gain-line to get ‘Belvo back on track. A yellow card for O’Sullivan Sexton temporarily halted their progress, following a break from busy flanker Áine Rutley. However, Callan crashed over beside the posts late on, with Hazel Simmons converting.

There was not much between the teams on the resumption, with Katie Gilmour carving through the hosts’ defence before Belvedere centre Kelly made a good chunk of post-contact metres for last season’s beaten semi-finalists.

The Dubliners pocketed points from their next visit to the opposition 22. A cross-field kick from the returning O’Sullivan Sexton was retrieved. The young out-half carried in midfield too before Kate Ballance cut inside and fed McAuliffe on her outside for a five-pointer in the left corner.

Cooke wingers Paige Smyth and Elise McDermott almost delivered a quick-fire response, both putting boot to ball before O’Sullivan Sexton got back to touch down behind the ‘Belvo posts.

Brian McLaughlin’s charges, with their replacement forwards getting on the ball, succeeded in scoring by the hour mark. An attacking surge down the left led to Simpson muscling her way over from a close-in ruck.

Leading 19-10 heading into the final quarter, Belvedere put together their best attack for their bonus point score. O’Sullivan’s slaloming run off a scrum, and offload to Kelly, put them within striking range, and skipper Ring raided over from Jade Gaffney’s swift pass.

Lively replacement Iluyemi drove through a couple of tackles to power her way over in the 66th minute. It was her third try of the campaign for Cooke, and came just after a strong carry from Grace Simati, another young forward with a bright future.

Amanda Morton’s conversion made it a seven-point game, but ‘Belvo fired back almost immediately. Hannah Rapley’s big charge set the wheels in motion, and they edged closer before the backs worked the ball out for Kelly to apply the finishing touches.

Following O’Sullivan Sexton’s crisp conversion from the left to open up a 14-point gap, Cooke won a scrum penalty to move back into ‘Belvo territory, yet Kelly, maintaining a high work-rate, intercepted a pass to allow the home side to see out the match past halfway.

TIME LINE: 12 minutes – Old Belvedere try: Lisa Callan – 5-0; conversion: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 7-0; 29 mins – Cooke try: Sophie Barrett – 7-5; conversion: missed by Amanda Morton – 7-5; 37 mins – Old Belvedere yellow card: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton; 39 mins – Old Belvedere try: Lisa Callan – 12-5; conversion: Hazel Simmons – 14-5; Half-time – Old Belvedere 14 Cooke 5; 48 mins – Old Belvedere try: Orlaith McAuliffe – 19-5; conversion: missed by Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 19-5; 57 mins – Cooke try: Megan Simpson – 19-10; conversion: missed by Amanda Morton – 19-10; 61 mins – Old Belvedere try: Lesley Ring – 24-10; conversion: missed by Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 24-10; 66 mins – Cooke try: Shola Iluyemi – 24-15; conversion: Amanda Morton – 24-17; 69 mins – Old Belvedere try: Emma Kelly – 29-17; conversion: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 31-17; Full-time – Old Belvedere 31 Cooke 17

OLD BELVEDERE: Hazel Simmons; Leah Nealon, Emma Kelly, Grace Tutty, Kate Ballance; Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton, Jade Gaffney; Hannah Wilson, Lisa Callan, Eilis Doyle, Orlaith McAuliffe, Laura Sampson, Áine Rutley, Emily Byrne, Lesley Ring (capt).

Replacements: Shana Murphy, Hannah Rapley, Alisha Flynn, Zara Martin, Juliet Condron, Laura Carty, Laura Carroll.

COOKE: Molly Boyd; Paige Smyth, Codie McCloskey, Teah Morton, Elise McDermott; Amanda Morton, Georgia Boyce; Grace Simati, Emilee Jalosuo, Sophie Barrett, Izzy Harris, Bronach Cassidy, Laura Scott, Katie Gilmour, Megan Simpson (capt).

Replacements: Ilse van Staden, Shola Iluyemi, Emily Martin.

Referee: Tomas Treacy (IRFU)