Match Report: 1XV vs Seapoint
Seapoint’s Kilbogget Park is never an easy venue to play as the pitch is wide open to the elements and the home support is usually quite vocal, to say the least.
Bective lined out at full strength, except for injuries to prop Shane Ryan and No 8 Jamie Lawless.
The first quarter was a right ‘ding dong’ affair between the south Dublin rivals with League table topper’s Seapoint playing most of the rugby, but big tackling Bective never letting their opponents settle or get into their stride. Referee Stuart Donaldson, Dolphin RFC, wasn’t blowing the whistle that often, therefore letting the game flow. Both sides traded a couple of penalties to leave the score 3 points each heading into the 2nd quarter. When after a good lineout by Seapoint inside the Bective 22 and further mauls led to a penalty under the posts for which Adam Levy received a harsh yellow. A tap and go then saw Kiwi scrum half George Sims dive over with the try converted to give Seapoint a 10–3 lead after 29 mins.
Unfortunately, Bective were to suffer a double whammy when Seapoint robbed a lineout on the Bective 22 with slick hands and making use of the extra man, winger David O’Reilly raced over in the corner for the try with the difficult conversion missed, so 15–3 to Seapoint. Hardly what Bective deserved with just 9 minutes of the first half still to go.
How would the players respond, but respond they did! After a brilliant up and under by Conor Halpenny putting the Seapoint defence under pressure, which yielded a lineout inside the Seapoint 22. After a great take by Ger Warde and then a brilliant maul, rumbling towards the Seapoint line for Capt. Mattie Keane to get the touch down, with Mikey O’Hare converting from out wide, to leave the score 15–10 to Seapoint, no more than Bective deserved, game on.
A great tackle by Captain Mattie Keane halting a Seapoint attack out wide and then another fantastic Conor Halpenny box kick yielded a penalty on halfway for offside. Into the corner from Matthew Gilsenan for the line out from where Bective started their maul and a great move across the Seapoint 22 saw Tim Carroll held up, with the ball moved quickly for big Tadhg O’Dwyer running a great line to barrel over for Bective’s second try and with Mikey O’Hare converting, Bective were in front 17-15 at half time.
The 2nd half commenced and Bective started where they had left off and stayed camped in the Seapoint half. After great play with some super carries by the forwards, the Seapoint defence was opened up with Shane O’Meara touching down in the corner, and of course Mikey O’Hare kicking the difficult conversion to put Bective into a 24–15 lead after 50 mins.
Bective kept their foot on the peddle and a combination of great forward play and astute kicking, kept the play in the Seapoint half for the last quarter. Although Seapoint threatened from time to time with their excellent No. 8 Zac Jungman to the fore, the Bective defence held firm. With no try bonus points in cup matches, Bective decided to take the kickable penalties on offer and with 72 min on the clock Mikey O’Hare put the game firmly in Bective’s hands with his 5th successful kick of the game.
Full Time: Seapoint 15 – Bective 27
Bernard and his coaching team, Capt. Mattie and the whole squad deserve great credit for the way they managed the game especially after going 15-3 down in the 2nd quarter of the first half and a super 2nd half performance keeping our opponents scoreless.
So a great shift by everyone, not only laying down a marker for the League encounter in 3 weeks at the same venue, but also qualifying for a major IRFU final on the 27th January 2024 against Ballyclare RFC.
