Blackrock College - 16 UCD - 9 There is simply no better way to win a match than with a converted try in the final minute. A healthy crowd were treated to this at Stradbrook on Saturday. For good measure, in achieving the feat Blackrock kept alive their hopes of making the knockout stages of the AIB League.
With Ballymena and Belfast Harlequins also winning they remain in sixth but their run-in gives them a great chance of gatecrashing the end-of-season party. They are Leinster's last hope.
New coach Steve McIvor has produced a forward-oriented dynamic that allows them to compete with the more physical teams in the league. When all else failed, they steamrolled the brave UCD resistance.
Philip Bredin's penalty in the 54th minute levelled the scores at nine-all. Back came Blackrock but after finally pinning the students in their own 22, full back Conor Kilroy saw two penalties come off the uprights.
The second penalty was brought into range after Kevin Croke tackled Geoff McEvoy, off a quick tap, without retreating the required 10 metres. He was, rather harshly, sent to the sin-bin.
The high stakes ensured Blackrock came again. The pack, with Rory Rogers and David Dillon excelling, eventually mauled their way over the line in the 80th minute. Winger Mikey Price arose from the rubble of bodies with the ball, and the plaudits, before team manager Michael Jackson made a one-man pitch invasion. Kilroy nailed the conversion from wide on the left.
It was a dramatic finale to a dull game. Kilroy had the home side coasting with three penalties in the opening 12 minutes but two strikes from Bredin reduced the deficit to 9-6 by the interval. The first half was notable for the more adventurous play of UCD, who asked all the pertinent questions of the Blackrock defence.
Yet, despite the wealth of talent, neither back line looked capable of scoring out wide. Blackrock, helped by the UCD's reduced numbers, had the reserves to scrape home.
For UCD, their fifth defeat effectively ends their season but they can reflect on a campaign when they more than held their own. The player supply-lines continue to run from Belfield.
Scoring sequence: 2 mins: C Kilroy pen, 3-0; 8: Kilroy pen, 6-0; 12: Kilroy pen, 9-0; 37: P Bredin pen, 9-3; 42: Bredin pen, 9-6; 54: Bredin pen, 9-9; 80: M Price try, 14-9; Kilroy con, 16-9.
BLACKROCK COLLEGE: C Kilroy; J Hearty, A O'Neill, J Ronan, M Price; E Farrell, A Pinto; A McSweeney, P Fonseca, I McLaughlin, D Gannon, M Legge, R Rogers, T O'Donoghue, D Dillon. Replacements: G Fitzgerald for Legge, G McEvoy for Fonseca, M Cuffe for McLaughlin (all 65 mins).
UCD: P Bredin; G Hayes, K Kennedy, P Hickey-Dwyer, D McKenna; N McNamara, D Geraghty; M Moynagh, C Geoghegan, J Montgomery, P Callanan, S Crawford, L Burke, A Carroll, K Croke. Replacements: S Abbott for Carroll (20 mins), J Moroney for Geraghty (65 mins).
Referee: O Trevor (MRU)
