Tsunami of Skibb tries drown out Dolphin in cup masscacre

Hat-trick hero: Skibbereen winger Denis O’Driscoll sprints clear to score the second of his three tries in this Munster Junior Plate Cup match against Dolphin RFC at the Showgrounds on Sunday.

Skibbereen 48

Dolphin 10

SKIBBEREEN advanced to the quarter-final of the 2015 Munster Junior Plate after an easy victory over city side Dolphin at the Showgrounds on Sunday.

The final score of 48 – 10 was a true reflection of the vast difference between the sides on the day.

Skibbereen ended up running in so many tries it was difficult to keep count – the first arriving in the opening minute when Dave Shannon was virtually gifted the try as the Dolphin defence lost the plot after an innocent kick-ahead by Skibbereen flanker Ivan Jennings.

There was no conversion by outhalf Ger Hurley but it signalled the opening of the floodgates and tries came hot and heavy, courtesy of Vinny White after 11 minutes, Denis O’Driscoll on 13, 26 and 28 minutes and Ger Hurley on 35 minutes.

In the meantime, Dolphin managed to get one try of their own. With conversions added the half-time score read 38 – 5 to Skibbereen.

Effectively, the match as a contest was well and truly.

To their credit, the gallant visitors piled on the pressure in the opening minutes of the second half and managed to secure another try to bring the score to 38 – 10, having missed the conversion.

Then almost as a reflex action Skibbereen responded like for like as Richie Byrnes split the defence wide open with a searing run to score his side’s seventh try, and Hurley added the conversion points.

Then just five minutes later the youthful Kevin Coombes, who came to replace Declan Coppinger, left defenders in his wake as he careered down the touchline to score yet another try.

With the score now reading 48

– 10 at this stage, the referee was agreeable to let the match run for another few minutes to give the time to introduce players from the benches before finally calling a halt to proceedings.

This was a good training experience for Skibbereen and they used the occasion wisely to put some of their training drills into practice.

This was most evident for the backs as the speed and frequency of the passing in attack was very noticeable and certainly made a difference in putting players into space at

critical times.

Skibbereen now progress to meet old rivals Muskerry for a place in the semi-final, at a date to be announced.

This Sunday Skibbereen are down to play their final league fixture against Waterpark, which was postponed from the previous Sunday.

Skibbereen: Mike Calnan, David Jennings, Vinnie White, Ian Hurley, Declan Coppinger, Ivan Jennings, Richie Byrne, Kieran Shannon, Mike Limrick, Ger Hurley, Denis O’Driscoll, Alex Maseesee, Denis McCarthy, Darragh O’Mahony, Dave Shannon.

Subs: Gerard McCarthy, William Ryan, Kevin Coombes, Ger O’Mahony.