[caption id="attachment_69025" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Carlow’s Conor Lawlor comes under pressure from Diarmuid Connolly of Dublin during their O’Byrne Cup game at Dr. Cullen Park in Carlow."]
NOT everything was perfect but Dublin manager Pat Gilroy was reasonably pleased with his team’s first competitive outing since their All-Ireland football success.
At one stage in the second half at Dr Cullen Park on Sunday, they were only level at 0-9 apiece with Carlow in the opening round of the O’Byrne Cup. Could it be that Carlow were going to record a shock
victory against the All-Ireland champions, albeit a side missing many of their top stars?
No chance, Dublin simply moved into another gear, scoring eight unanswered points to make sure of a 0-17 to 0-10 victory which earns them a second round outing against UCD at Parnell Park on Saturday
night.
Gilroy, having fielded just six of the All-Ireland starting line for the clash with Carlow, took his usual pragmatic approach. He said: “Some of our shooting in the first half was dreadful but that’s probably to be expected in our first game.
“But really this is preparation for the league. We’re building up the players fitness and hoping to gradually improve things.
“So, this was a good workout after just a week’s training. The application was good and, to be fair, the side really got their act together in the final quarter.”
No doubt, the strong UCD side which defeated Laois by 0-15 to 0-11 will provide the Dubs with an even sterner test. And that, you sense, is what Gilroy is looking for.
While there are many differences between the set-up of Dublin and Carlow, the most obvious is the vast amount of top players that Gilroy can call on. If things aren’t going particularly well, he can change
the situation very quickly.
Carlow, of course, don’t have those resources. Given those circumstances, their manager Luke Dempsey had a lot to feel pleased about following Saturday’s defeat.
“I was very happy with the enthusiasm shown by the lads,” he enthused. “I’m sure we’ll benefit from playing the All-Ireland champions in our first game.
“But we did make mistakes, and when you do that against a side of Dublin’s caliber, you are going to be punished.”
Those mistakes were punished by substitute Mossy Quinn (0-5) and Diarmuid Connolly (0-3), while newcomer Michael McCarthy made a good
impression. But prior to Dublin’s second half burst, Carlow had done really well to have drawn level.
International Rules footballer Brendan Murphy finished as their to scorer with three points from play.
Elsewhere in the O’Byrne Cup, Meath defeated Wexford by 1-13 to 1-10 at Navan. They will now play Louth at the same venue on Sunday.
Offaly, under new boss Gerry Cooney, got the better of Westmeath by 3-6 to 0-7 to qualify for a second round clash with Kildare.
The Lilywhites had far too much craft for DIT (Dublin Insitute of Technology), winning 2-11 to 0-9.
DCU, inspired by Dean Rock, the son of former Dublin great Barney, edged out Wicklow 0-18 to 1-14, while Longford pipped Athlone IT by 0-13 to 1-9.
There was also a start to the football season in Ulster with the opening round of the McKenna Cup. Peter Canavan got his stint as Fermanagh manager off to the perfect start with a 2-11 to 1-6 success over Antrim.
Down proved too good for an inexperienced Armagh outfit, winning 2-12 to 0-10, while Derry and Tyrone also got aaway to sucessful starts.
Derry had to do it the hard way, the 14 men, scoring three times in the closing minutes for a 0-13 victory over Cavan. Niall Holly struck the winner three minutes into added time.
It was considerably easier for a much changed Tyrone side as they overcame Queen’s University by 1-13 to 1-5. That said, they had to come from behind before taking control in the second half.
In Connacht, Mayo made a winning start to their FBD League campaign, defeating Leitrim by 0-10 to 0-6. The talking point was an impressive
return from Conor Mortimer who contributed 0-2 after coming off the substitutes bench.
Sligo got the better of London (1-16 to 0-9), Roscommon had to settle for a draw (1-11 to 2-8) against GMIT, while Galway’s experimental
side suffered a 1-8 to 0-9 defeat to a strong NUIG outfit at Tuam Stadium.
Leinster stars will play
JOHNNY SEXTON is confidently expected to be available for Leinster’s crucial Heineken Cup match against Glasgow next Sunday, despite having
to retire in the second half of last weekend’s 23-19 away RaboDirect Pro12 away success over Cardiff Blues.
There would undoubtedly have been concern among Leinster supporters when the international out-half limped off the field midway through
the second half. But officials later confirmed that it was purely a precautionary measure.
The same applied to Gordon D’Arcy who was substituted because of a rib problem. Both are important figures in Leinster’s bid to top their
Heineken Cup pool, but particulary Sexton in his current mood.
Once again, the out-half was in great form with the boot, converting two early Leinster tries from Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney, and then adding two penalties. Leinster looked like running away with it after establishing a 14-0 by the 20th minute, but they dropped their intensity and Cardiff got back into the game.
So much so, that the Welsh team could quite easily have stolen a victory in the latter stages. As it was, a late penalty from Fergus McFadden sealed a deserved Leinster success.
Wisely, manager Guy Easterby called it as it was, stating: “We played a lot of good rugby to score two very good tries but then allowed them back into it. It certainly wasn’t 10 out of 10 rugby.
“We’re winning games and showing a lot of character, but our game isn’t bang on at the moment.”
Jamie Heaslip was named man-of-the-match, while Mark Flanagan made a promising debut in the
Leinster second-row.
The victory leaves Leinster nine points clear of the Ospreys at the top of the table. Munster moved to within a point of the Welsh outfit in third spot following their 29-11 victory over Bennetton Treviso at Thomond Park.
They finished very strongly to secure a bonus point by scoring four tries. Those tries came fron Niall Ronan, Keith Earls, James Coughlan and Simon Zebo.
Ronan O’Gara converted three of the them and also kicked a penalty. Job done, as far as Munster coach Tony McGahan was concerned, but he admitted that his side needs to work on some areas before the return to Heineken Cup action against Castres next weekend.
He said: “Credit must go to Treviso as they have made tremendous progress recently. Our set piece could have been better but I was pleased with the way we stuck to our tack and secured the bonus
point.”
Ulster kept their play-off hopes alive with a fine 42-20 away win over Edinburgh. Rory Best, Dan Tuohy and Darren Cave scored the tries as Irish flanker Stephen Ferris again played a prominent role.
Unfortunately, Connacht flopped badly against Aironi in Italy. After played so well against Leinster the previous week, this was a real chance for Connacht to end their long losing run.
But they never got started against the bottom side in the table, managing just two penalties from Matthew Jarvis and Niall O’Connor. The problem it seems is that they can raise their game against top
outfits like Leinster, Harlequins and Gloucester but just can’t deliver against the less well regarded teams.
To date, everyone has been very patient concerning a run that has seen them lose 13 games on the trot. To be fair, they could so easily have beaten the above-mentioned trio of teams.
But there were no excuses for such a disappointing effort against Arioni and assistant coach Billy Millard had no problem in saying so. “I don’t think we could play that badly again if we tried.” he fumed.
“The players have to aim higher. A lot of them don’t have the experience but they can still show the right attitude and come out to perform consistently well every week,” Millard added. “If these guys can’t do it, we will have to find people who can.”
O’Connell to stay on
MUNSTER rugby supporters will be delighted with the confirmation that Paul O’Connell has re-signed for another two years.
The man who will captain Ireland in the upcoming Six Nations didn’t have to think twice about making the decision. He said: “We got the
negotiations done fairly quickly as I was happy enough with everything.”
Britton wins again
FIONNUALA BRITTON, the recent winner of the European Women’s Cross-Country Championship, added to her growing reputation by winning in Scotland over the weekend.
The Wicklow competitor had 20 seconds to spare when she led the field home in Saturday’s prestigious Great Edinburgh Cross-County event. She came home ahead of England’s Emma Steele, the women to was third behind her in the European championships.
Runners from the USA also featured in the event but the best of them, Neely Spence, was back in fourth spot, some 39 seconds behind Britton.
