A new Season, a new start for the Blue Bulls as some new blood took to the field in Parsonstown on a wet Saturday afternoon against the old guard of Highfield. The first half saw NUIM Barnhall break out of the blocks with early procession and sprinted pressure which forced Highfield to concede a penalty which was converted easily by Simon Gillespie to make the score 3-0 to the home side after 6 minutes. NUIM Barnhall continued there dominance after the restart with some great line out takes from Eoin McCrearry and Conor McDermot which allowed the backs in particular Ryan Hopkins to make some great line breaks and test the Highfield defence on a number of occasions. This bombardment by backs forced another penalty for the Blue Bulls which allowed Simon Gillespie to step up again and take the 3 points which brought the scored to 6-0. The Visiting team came back strong and tried to break through the NUIM Barnhall wall, but with some great tackling from Tom McKeown and Barry Dunne stopped them fro, gaining any ground. A silly penalty by the home side on the 20 minute mark allowed Highfield to cease on an opportunity and successfully broke the NUIM Barnhall defence with John Sheehan from Highfield running in a tri and then Ricki Jacobs converted to make it 6-7. The Home side made a change at this point and brought on Ray Dufficy which brought even more power to the pack and allowed NUIM Barnhall to control and dominate the scrums. Unfortunately the home side would give away another penalty to allow Highfield to take the score to 6-10. NUIM Barnhall had there own penalty chances but unfortunately could not convert them and the score stayed the same going into the break. The Second half saw NUIM Barnhall dominate the game and did not let Highfield out of there own half for the first 20 mins. Great forward play in particular Ray Dufficy and Tom McKeown forced Highfield to defend vigorously and despite the pressure by the home side Highfield kept there discipline and no penalties were given away. The Failure to score when NUIM Barnhall were so dominate was the undoing of the home side.
A speculative clearance by Brian O’Hea for Highfield was collected by Mark Kavannah on the wing who then slipped as he tried to cut in side, a rampant Highfield forward rush saw them turn over the ball and quick hands by the visiting team enabled Richie Duggan to get over the line for another tri which was again converted by Ricki Jacobs to take the game to 17-6. Other teams may have been deflated by this, but not our Blue Bulls who came back strong and a minute after the restart found themselves within the Highfield 22. The resulting possession saw Barry Dunne go on a run, he popped the ball to Rob McGrath and he found Simon Gillespie with went down over the line for a well worked tri to bring the score to 17-13. The last 5 minutes saw NUIM Barnhall attack the Highfield defence again and again but it did not break and old heads of Highfield prevailed as the final whistle blew. NUIM Barnhall will look to learn from this defeat and take that into next weeks match away against NAAS on Friday night. Hope to see you all there to cheer on your Blue Bulls.
“COME ON THE BLUE”
| NUIM Barnhall RFC | HighField RFC | |||
| Position | Player Name | Position | Player Name | |
| 1 | Simon O’Shea | 1 | John O’Callaghan | |
| 2 | Gareth Murray | 2 | Dave O’Hea | |
| 3 | Jim Nolan | 3 | Robert Bogue | |
| 4 | Eoin McCrearry | 4 | David Kelly | |
| 5 | Conor McDermott | 5 | John Murphy | |
| 6 | Tom McKeown | 6 | Mick Dillane | |
| 7 | Cormac Dunne | 7 | Rory Lankford | |
| 8 | Barry Dunne | 8 | Don Keogh | |
| 9 | Rob Holt | 9 | Kevin Foyle | |
| 10 | Simon Gillespie | 10 | Ricki Jacobs | |
| 11 | Rob McGrath | 11 | John Sheehan | |
| 12 | David Stewart | 12 | Colin Mahony | |
| 13 | Michael Brown | 13 | Richard Childs | |
| 14 | Adam Hughes | 14 | Paul Stack | |
| 15 | Ryan Hopkins | 15 | Brian O’Hea | |
| 16 | Ray Dufficy | 16 | Dave O’Callaghan | |
| 17 | Paraic Beatty | 17 | Richie Duggan | |
| 18 | Eoin Beatty | 18 | Cathal Tuohy | |
| 19 | David Carey | 19 | Jason Carton | |
| 20 | Mark Kavannah | 20 | Daragh Buckley-Barry | |
