Three-Try Trinity Win On Their Travels Again

A stunning three-try second half display from injury-hit Dublin University earned them a 31-19 victory over St. Mary’s College at Templeville Road on Friday.

Bouncing back from last week's derby defeat to UCD, Trinity showed impressive resolve to come from 10 points down just before half-time and pick up their second away win in a game that was streamed live on the Irish Rugby Facebook page.

The students are still without injured captain Brian Slater due to shoulder surgery. Seb Fromm and Raef Tyrrell are among their absentees from last year, Tom Ryan is currently nursing a rib injury and second row Cian O'Dwyer also broke his hand against UCD.

Two of Trinity's former frontliners, centre Paddy Lavelle and back rower Nick McCarthy, featured for new side St. Mary's tonight. Their ex-team-mate Jack McDermott kicked the students ahead with a third minute penalty before Sean Kearns responded for Mary's in the 32nd minute.

Jamie Cornett's men moved ahead just seven minutes later as in-form out-half Kearns found the target from an awkward angle. They were beginning to exert real pressure on the Trinity rearguard, and at the end of a probing cross-field move, Terry Kennedy's telling pass enabled winger Ian O'Neill to touch down on the right.

Kearns' subsequent conversion created further daylight between the teams, but there was just enough time for McDermott to reduce Trinity's deficit to 13-6 for half-time with his second successful place-kick.

It was important for the students to halt the Mary's scoring sequence just before the break, and they stormed back into contention during the early stages of the second half. McDermott knocked over his third penalty in the 42nd minute, and his side's first try of the evening swiftly followed four minutes later.

Superb handling by McDermott and Bryan Mollen set them on their way, and although there was initially a suspicion of a forward pass, Ireland Under-19 international Colm Hogan raced over in clinical fashion on the right hand side.

This meant that Trinity had edged ahead of their Dublin rivals, but after McDermott was narrowly off target with the touchline conversion, Kearns restored order for Mary's with a superbly-struck 51st-minute penalty.

Yet, this only acted as a temporary respite for Mary's. A powerful maul on the hour mark by Trinity was finished off by lock and stand-in skipper Jack Burke. McDermott was faced with another difficult kick from the wing, but he responded on this occasion with a terrific two-point contribution.

Mary's kept themselves in the hunt courtesy of Kearns' fourth penalty 12 minutes from time, but the decisive score of the game went the way of Trinity. Following a prolonged multi-phase move in the opposing half, Burke latched onto a loose ball and his neat offload left centre Michael Courtney with the simple task of touching down by the posts for a 71st-minute converted score.

This left Mary's with an uphill task in the closing stages, and another three-pointer by the excellent McDermott capped off another impressive performance on the road by Tony Smeeth's youngsters.

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)