U21s 15 – Dolphin 15

Galwegians U21s showed a huge amount of heart and desire to eek out a draw on a bitterly cold, dank day in Cork on Saturday.

Dolphin started well, using their huge pack to smash up the field and force a number of penalties to give them the chance to take the lead, however they were unable to take the scores on offer.

Wegians worked themselves into the game with the backrow tigerishly scrapping for every loose ball and giving the team excellent forward momentum. As the first quarter came to an end good Wegians pressure got them their first points of the match when scrum-half Conor O’Rourke slotted a penalty. 18 mins – Dolphin 0 Wegians 3.

The visitors defense was keeping Dolphin at bay with some huge hits, but the pressure from the physically imposing Corkonians forced another kickable penalty, which they duly converted. 30 mins – Dolphin 3 Galwegians 3.

As the half ended Wegians broke out of defense when good handling set hooker Paul O’Donnell haring down the wing, the sky blues recycled the ball expertly and hammered at the goal line a couple of times before winger David Quill burrowed his way over under the posts. Half-time Dolphin 3 Galwegians 8.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with the visitors fighting manfully to protect their lead. It looked like they had gained an important advantage as the frustrations of the home side saw their open-side flanker binned for foul play. However 3 minutes later Wegians had their captain binned for coming in from the side to even things up again.

Dolphin upped their game and their dominant scrum gave them the platform for their first try of the match from a rumbling maul. 67 mins – Dolphin 10 Wegians 8.

The home side had the bit between their teeth now and worked their way back into the Wegians half where they crashed over from the back of a 5 metre scrum to stretch their lead to 7. 72 mins – Dolphin 15 Wegians 8.

Wegians self-belief and determination shone through in the last few minutes as they stormed back looking for the equalising score. They showed real maturity and patience as they forced penalty after penalty on the Dolphin goalline. Eventually Dolphin got their second yellow card as they illegally stopped Wegians from scoring. With the clocking ticking inexorably to 80 minutes the sky blues held their nerve as the bashed away before finally No. 8 Eddie Earle monstered his way over. O’Rourke coolly slotted the conversion to secure the draw. Full time – Dolphin 15 Galwegians 15