Academy put a Cork-ey in Dee's Bottle

Monday, 12 October 2009 10:55

Academy put a Cork-ey in Dee's Bottle

Academy 21 - Donaghadee 14

Two points was the ambition for both teams in this top of the table clash at Roughfort. Pre-match press headlines shared differing opinions, “potential classic at Roughfort” roared the Belfast Telegraph; “Academy wary of banana skin” wrote the Leinster Leader and “Ophir need the points” said the Roughfort Gazette.

Academy started the stronger of the two sides with some good handling, offloading and quick rucks, leading to an early penalty kicked by Norm: 3- 0. This was quickly followed up by more good play on the nearside. Veteran scrum half Ian Knox, in his last season with the club swept a lovely pass to Hubby who put the backs into space with Martin and Eggleton putting Norm in on the left, to increase our lead. Norman added a good conversion, 10 - 0.

Instead of building on this lead, we went off the boil and some basic handling errors presented Donaghadee with a way back into the match. On 16 minutes the referee penalised us for holding the ball, Donaghadee converting to make the score 10 - 3. We responded well, Norm penalising some Dee indiscipline with another 3 pointer, 13 - 3. The rest of the half became a scrappy affair with neither team seizing any real initiative. Telling contributions from Matt Corkey at the ruck and some excellent tackles from Eggleton, Henderson and Nash kept Donaghadee at bay as they finished the slightly stronger team at half time. Andy E saw yellow for some daft reason and spent that last 9mins of the haldf pacing around. The half time summary was very much along the lines of “could do better”, delivered eloquently by mild mannered coach McKee with Growler muttering obscenities in the background – nothing new there!!!.

We started the second half strongly with good handling from the forwards and some incisive running from the ladies, however Donaghadee added an early penalty after we were once again pinged for holding onto the ball, 13 - 9. This visibly lifted the Dee team, and there followed a strong period of pressure from the seasiders, however strong tackling and some great scrapping on the ground from Corkey nullified any threat. On 60 minutes a searing break by Eggleton almost led to a score. The subsequent period of pressure resulted in an excellent try in the corner for Jonny Edens, Norm missing the conversion: 18 - 9. Once again the game became a scrappy affair until some late Donaghadee pressure resulted in a score in the corner for their left winger, 18 - 14, game on. To be fair, we raised our game for the last 8 minutes pinning the ‘Dee in their half, being rewarded with a well struck Norm penalty to go 21 - 14 up. We closed the rest of the game out for a well deserved win.

At the post match press conference amiable coach McKee remarked “sometimes it has to be ugly. In fact I don’t mind ugly. This can also be applied to the rugby.”

Man of the match, Matt Corkey commented “as the fittest forward on the pitch, it was natural that I should get this award. I’d like to say I’m humbled, but I really do deserve it.”

Writing for Le Figaro, Bernard la Porte said Academy are an excellent side who clearly have this division at their feet. I was very impressed with how they mixed and matched their game and I fully expect them to be in the top three in this competitive league. The day was summed up by the Roughfort Gazette by the comment, ”Good win for Ophir.”

Next week sees the arrival of Carrick at The Fort. More of the same would be brilliant. Well done all.

MAN OF THE MATCH: MATT CORKEY

The Management……