BECTIVE 3XV INTO O’CONNOR CUP FINAL
Railway Union RFC 10-36 Bective Rangers FC
We’ve been saying it all season; this squad has a trophy in them. Last Saturday, in difficult conditions away from home, the Bective 3XV gave themselves that chance. A tremendous display in attack and defence saw Bective leave Park Avenue with a huge semi final win against our old rivals Railway.
Conditions on Saturday were trying. Not only was there a very strong wind blowing right down the pitch, but the heavens opened 45 mins before kickoff, ensuring that while the boys would play in sunshine, the pitch and ball would be nice and greasy. The preparation since Ravens had been superb, Bective chomping at the bit to get stuck in and it showed right from kickoff. With Railway winning the toss and electing to play with the wind in the first half, the Bective defensive line came up hard and fast, pressuring Railway into early mistakes.
The opening try after 7 minutes was straight from the training paddock. A Railway infringement just inside their half gave Bective territory from the lineout on the ‘22. With a set piece move called, number 8 Dave O’Mahony drew the defenders, creating a massive gap for hooker Eoin McIntyre to power through at pace, side stepping the fullback to score under the posts. Outhalf Henry Carroll nailed the straightforward kick to put Bective 0-7 up with 7 minutes gone.
We’ve had a habit, in the early part of the season, of starting games slowly. The lads well and truly confined that habit to the dust bin as the onslaught continued against a shell shocked Railway. The Bective defence continued to hastle and hound Railway attackers, notably by locks Ross O’Donovan & Stephen Gibbons and back rowers Ryan Murtagh, Rob Doyle and O’Mahony. Again this lead to Railway mistakes, who despite having the wind advantage, could do precious little with it. Bective eventually gained territory deep in the opposition half. Railway overthrew the lineout and prop Gavin Walsh gathered at the tail where he’d be a menacing presence on loose ball all day. After repeated Bective attacks, Railway infringed, and captain and scrum half Stephen Fox took the tap penalty with the wind blowing a gale, passing to lock O’Donovan. O'Donovan then gave a lovely soft pass after sucking in two defenders to give McIntyre a straightforward run in for the try. The score under the sticks gave Carroll another easy conversion into the teeth of the wind for a 0-14 lead after 18 mins.
The next 15 mins belonged to Railway as Bective struggled to get out of their half with the wind acting as a 16th player for the home side. Railway did manage to nab a penalty to make it 3-14, however, the monumental defensive effort held firm. First, Railway repeatedly attacked the Bective line and after they made ground, their outside centre found a gap and hurtled towards the line for a certain try. But Bective centre Rob Jolley produced magic that wouldn’t have been out of place in the Aviva later that day. Jolley managed to get himself underneath the ball in a bizarre act of contortionism, holding up the Railway centre, preventing the score. Moments like these are what win cups.
Railway attacked again from the goal line dropout, their outhalf putting a deft grubber in behind the Bective line. In a howling gale a 5 metre lineout in your own ‘22 is nervy stuff. But the Bective pack pulled it out of the bag. A superb lineout thrown by McIntyre and taken by Murtagh, lead to a maul which Bective used to power themselves away from their own try line and outside the ‘22. Some hard carries from props Walsh and Ed Perrier and one brilliant blindside break by Murtagh got Bective from their own 5 metre to their own 10, from where Railway gave away a needless breakdown penalty, allowing Bective to venture into the opposition half for the first time in 15 minutes.
From this concerted period of pressure, the Bective pack continually carried hard. A knock on 5 metres out seemed to be Railway’s reprieve but it wasn’t to be on this blustery Saturday afternoon. Fullback Aerton Griffin gathered the clearance and went on the attack, supported by wingers Anthony McLeod and Emmet Geraghty, who were superb in attack and defence all game. Several phases later, Bective found themselves 2 metres short of the line. There was no panic, Fox and Carroll marshalling the pack and outside backs masterfully. After 3 more pick and gos, the ball was fired wide, Carroll found Jolley who passed to centre partner O’Sullivan who then gave a beautiful delayed pass to hooker McIntyre who was desperate enough for his hat trick to find himself in the backline. An arcing run on a soft outside shoulder saw McIntyre stretch and dot down for his and Bective’s third try of the game close to the corner. The conversion was just wide from Carroll into the wind, to leave the score 3-19 after 33 mins and that’s how it remained until halftime.
At halftime coaches Col Bathe & Shane Comer impressed on the lads that into the wind meant Railway would hold onto possession, looking to get it to their dangerous outside backs. The message was one of calmness and maintaining control, continue to inflict our game on Railway. The boys took in every word and delivered.
From the restart, Bective hassled and harried Railway, leading to flanker Doyle winning a turnover penalty on the Railway ‘22. With the wind at their backs this half, Fox pointed to goal and Carroll knocked it over to make it 3-22 after 45 mins. Railway to their credit continued to attack trying to find a way back into the game but the door was repeatedly slammed in their faces. Notable moments included an acrobatic lineout steal from Doyle and wing McLeod reading the Railway backline to intercept a skip pass with a 3v1 begging for Railway.
The hammer blow to Railway’s hopes came on the 55 minute mark. After substitute centre Luis Santana made one of his trademark powerful carries, Railway attacked the breakdown on the ‘22. The ball came loose but scrum half Fox was alert and picked and went, shrugging off the attempted tackler with ease to slide in under the sticks. Carroll nailed the conversion to give Bective a 3-29 lead and Railway a mountain to climb.
In fairness to Railway, they managed to pull a try back after the one and only lapse in Bective’s defensive efforts to bring it back to 10-29. This only amounted to a flash in the pan though as Bective regrouped and refocused to once again put the foot down. Substitute forwards Eoin Bradley and Dave O’Loughlin made excellent impacts off the bench, Bradley doing the dirty, unseen work he’s been heralded for all season. O’Loughlin was dynamic around the field as ever with ball in hand also putting in some crunching fringe tackles. But it was centre Santana, sprung from the bench who had the final say. A Bective attack on the Railway ‘10 saw Fox find Carroll who with a subtle pass found Santana on the charge. Soft efforts at tackling allowed the Bective behemoth to continue unimpeded to score under the sticks, Carroll converting for a 10-36 scoreline and that’s how it would finish in Park Avenue.
This was the 3XV’s performance of the season so far. Attack and defence, forwards and backs, all coming together for one cohesive performance, securing an O’Connor Cup final berth against one of Lansdowne or St Mary’s who face off against each other in the other semi final.
Details of the final are TBC and will be announced as soon as the Leinster Branch releases them. We’re grateful to the support on the touchline from Bective members young and old, that made a huge difference to the lads on the pitch. Bective 3XV are asking all members to come down to the final to cheer and support the lads as they aim to lift silverware in what has been a transformative season for the Bective junior section.
As former Bective President Johnny Comer told the lads in the post match huddle, they’re “one game away from immortality”.
FT score:
Railway Union RFC 10-36 Bective Rangers FC
Scorers: Eoin McIntyre (3 tries), Stephen Fox (1 try), Luis Santana (1 try); Henry Carroll (4 cons, 1 pen)
15. Aerton Griffin 14. Emmet Geraghty 13. Rob Jolley 12. Ed O’Sullivan 11. Anthony McLeod 10. Henry Carroll 9. Stephen Fox (C) ; 1. Edouard Perrier 2. Eoin McIntyre 3. Gavin Walsh 4. Ross O’Donovan 5. Stephen Gibbons 6. Ryan Murtagh 7. Rob Doyle 8. Dave O’Mahony
Subs: 16. Eoin Bradley 17. Gustavo Ludwig 18. David O’Loughlin 19. Cian Flanagan 20. Nikolai Foster 21. Luis Santana 22. Mark Gibbons.
