Thursday, April 30^th 2009

Old Belvedere 10 - Bective Rangers 27

A minutes silence was observed prior to this years Whelan Cup match at Anglesea Road - as a mark of respect for the recent death of a young member of the Whelan family who tragically died in a recent road accident.

The match itself was won by Bective Rangers in convincing style In the second year to be contested at underage level, the fixture lost none of its vibrancy as both teams went at it from the off with great gusto.

Old Belvedere opened the brighter of the two with their massive forward pack making good ground against the struggling Bective defences. The pressure eventually told when the stretched defence opened up the slightest of gaps for the Old Belvedere scrum half to streak through. He had to negotiate a number of scrambling tacklers to just about make the touchdown and put Belvedere into a deserved 5 - 0 lead; the conversion attempt was wide. Bective worked their way upfield immediately after the kick-off and forced a penalty which was converted by Ben Geraghty. The Bective lads were still finding their feet in the close quarters however and continued soak up massive Belvedere pressure as they moved relentlessly towards the Bective line. Matters were not helped when Bective captain, Paddy Dix was sin-binned for persistent infringements at the ruck. Belvedere smelled blood and turned down the penalty points - in order to target the weakened Bective pack on their own line. The Bective seven rose to the challenge magnificently however and defended their line ferociously and lifted the siege after several assaults.

Bective started to perk up after that and applied a good level of pressure to the Belvedere lines. Wing Donal Murray was lucky get among the Belvedere back three and snaffle the ball from them as they moved wide; he raced away to score under the post and Ben converted to leave the halftime score at 5 - 10.

The half time talk from Coach Ed Martin was all about moving the ball wide and keeping the play varied. And right from the kick-off, they played fast and loose; Chris Kenna gathering up a cheeky short kick from Cathal Marsh and bringing play right to the Belvedere line. The play delivered a penalty for Bective which was converted by Ben, stretching the score to 5 - 13. Belvedere stormed back into it however and brought the play back to the Bective half where they were able to re-discover the powerful rumble in the forwards. This enabled them to release the wing forward to pace through the scattered Bective defence to score an unconverted try; 10 - 13 and game on. Despite leaking the try, Bective were growing in confidence and it showed in their forward pack who competed much better at the breakdown and gave better ball out to their dangerous backs. Alex Kelly began to punch holes in the centres and now it was Belvedere only just holding out. The Bective confidence grew all the more in the pack and Conor O'Donnell and Mark McGroarty were generating go-forward ball for the backs to swing onto. The try would not come however as the Belvedere defence held strong. Then when it looked least likely, confusion in the Belvedere backs presented an opportunity for outhalf Cathal Marsh kick ahead a loose ball and win the race for the touch down. Ben converted to leave the score at 10 - 20 with 15 minutes to go. Now the Bective pack were well and truly on top, and props David Reynolds and Ceithran Murray lording it in the scrums and tight play. The excellent Andrew Coffey was replaced in the second row by the equally excellent Eoin Beatty who immediately began to exert himself in the loose. There was only one team in it as the game went into the final stages and Bective really turned the screws. In the dying seconds, a try was awarded to Bective by the referee (despite a foot in touch call by the touch judge); this followed excellent movement by Kevin Jones- who released Chris Kenna to touch down. In the last play of the game, Captain Paddy Dix drop kicked the conversion - to the excitement of his team mates

It was a fantastic game by both sides and a fantastic achievement by the young Bective lads who stuck to their guns in the early stages when it looked like they might be savaged by the powerful Belvedere pack. Afterwards, the Whelan cup was presented to Bective Captain Paddy Dix, who will present it to the Club in Donnybrook tomorrow evening.