DCU 0
University of Limerick 17
O’Boyle Cup Rugby
DCU’s under-20 rugby team crashed out of the O’Byrne Cup after tries from Brian McCormack and Shea Boggan sealed a 17-0 win and a safe passage to the semi-finals for UL at St. Clare’s on Wednesday night.
Confidence was high in the home team’s camp after their crushing 68-0 win over the Dublin Institute of Technology in the previous round, but UL held the majority of the possession in the game and were largely able to dictate proceedings.
DCU’s front row did impress with some battling carries, with Luke O’Callaghan in particular smashing through several tackles, but sloppiness in the backs cost the home side with misplaced passes aplenty.
UL execute their game well and took the lead after eight minutes when Jack Quilter kicked over a penalty he won himself off a surging run.
Ryo Nakagawa would get close for DCU before being scythed down by a great tackle from James Liew that firmly swung momentum in the favour of the away side, with Liew and Declan Tougher’s runs from deep proving troublesome for the DCU defence – and Nakagawa in particular, who badly chipped a tooth in a collision with Tougher.
The first try came in the 23rd minute, when Dean O’Brien made a quick snatch off the back of a scrum 10 yards from the line and fed the run of McCormack who cut through to score, before Quilter duly added the extras.
McCormack was a big contributor at the other end, making two big turnovers for his side before the break to preserve the UL lead.
A golden chance presented itself in the 52nd minute when Evan Palmer snatched a loose throw-in, but a fantastic recovery tackle from O’Brien prevented the men in white once more as UL showed off their exceptional recovering ability.
Towards the end of the second half the home side saw more of the ball, but little mistakes continued to build up and they were made pay four minutes from time when Boggan crashed over – despite the close attention of two DCU players – sending UL to the semi-finals.
DCU will now go into the draw for the plate competition.
DCU: David Molloy, Michael Savage, Sam Moloney, Evan Palmer, Jorge Cordoba, David Gahan, Colin Daly, Oisin Kavanagh, Luke Sheehy, Luke O’Callaghan, Michael Gordon, Richie O’Connor, Joshua Cherry, Ryo Nakagawa, Andrew Sweeney.
Replacements: Koh Seonsa, John Devine, James Fitzgerald, Jack O’Reilly, Aaron Rock, Dean Cassells, Jack Willoughby.
UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK: Ben O’Neill, Cian Dully, Jack Quilter, James Liew, Declan Tougher, Shea Boggan, Neil O’Brien, Brendan McAdams, Jamie Moore, Liam Barrett, Sean Rigney, Cathal Dee, Crevan Hughes, Dean O’Brien, Brian McCormack.
Replacements: Danny Egars, Sean Hennessy, Connor Mannix, Peter Hickey, Jack Gormley, Mikey Phelan.
Alex Dunne
Image Credit: Daria Jonkisz