A disciplined and patient performance brought visitors Dolphin their reward in mud, rain and hail of Anglesea Road on Saturday. The Cork team, playing with the wind in the first half, schemed astutely, with out-half John O'Mahony working the controls. A drop goal and weaving try illustrated the variation in his game.
The drop goal from straight in front of the posts after only two minutes reflected his spontaneous eye for the unpredictable, and a 35-metre run produced the try. The try did suggest that O'Mahony doubted his own pace - he waited to see would support players make up enough ground (they did not) before he realised that the try was his for the taking. Even then, he only just managed to avoid the clutches of covering full back Billy Tracey.
A Conor Mahony penalty was sandwiched between these scores, and with life still left in the first quarter all the signs were that Dolphin would be lunching on a considerable half-time lead.
Not so. Fergal O'Beirne, Hugh McDonnell and out-half Robbie Rein dipped their shoulders and took on the Cork men.
In the 38th minute, Belvedere teetered on the brink of a breakthrough near the Dolphin line. Scrums buckled and Conor Mahony held Hugh McDonnell up in the scoring zone. There was no way straight through, but there was a way around the problem. Rein moved left on a dummy scissors that sucked in the Dolphin midfield and Tracey scampered over beside the posts. Rein converted.
At the break, Dolphin remained on the field, covered head-to-toe in mud, practising simple handling drills. Old Belvedere left the field for 10 minutes and changed their playing gear. They returned, looking pristine, to a mugging.
They were quickly dragged back into the quagmire of their ordinariness. Conor Mahony and full back Colm MacCoitir - who had looked uncomfortable under the high ball - pinched the second-half tries that made the game safe. Dolphin coach Michael Kiernan was understandably satisfied afterwards. "I thought our pack mauled the ball very well in what was a very hard game for us, considering that it could have been seen as a four pointer. Behind them, John O'Mahony played exceptionally well at out-half in the severe conditions."
Scoring Sequence - 2 mins: J O'Mahony dr gl, 3-0; 6: Conor Mahony pen, 6-0; 15: J O'Mahony, 11-0; 38: B Tracey try, R Rein con, 11-7; 47: Rein pen, 11-10; 53: [NO ]mins Conor Mahony try, con 18-10; 67: C MacCoitir try, 23-10; R Browne try, 23-15. OLD BELVEDERE: B Tracey; S Sexton, M Ridge, P McKenna, R Browne; R Rein, B Murphy; R Ward, P Kenny, T Kearns, M Henderson, B McDonald, F O'Beirne, D Shanley, H McDonnell. Replacement: K Martin for McDonald, 63 mins.
DOLPHIN: C MacCoitir; D O'Dowd, Conor Mahony, Cian Mahony, M O'Donovan; J O'Mahony, K Murphy; P Scott, T Kingston, D Mulcahy, J Forde, H Farrelly, T O'Connell, D Pomeroy, S Jackson. Replacements: E Knowles for Mulcahy, 48 mins; D Sheehan for Pomeroy, 54 mins; B O'Neill for Cian Mahony, 63 mins.
Referee: B Smith, MRA.
