Trinity And Carlow Confirm Team Line-Ups
Dublin University and County Carlow have announced their teams for Saturday’s AIB Cup first round clash at College Park (kick-off 5pm). This Leinster derby pits an AIB League Division Two side against one from Division Three.
With home advantage, Dublin University will be expected to progress past County Carlow in this crunch capital tie.
Trinity have the divisional edge on the visitors, as a Division Two outfit. They have also made a promising start to the new campaign. reaching the quarter-finals of the Leinster Senior League Cup thanks to two wins in three outings.
Tries from prop Tristan Goodbody and flanker and captain Shane Young helped them beat Navan 14-0 in their final pool game of the competition last week.
Neither player has been included in the cup team as director of rugby Tony Smeeth and his coaching staff have selected a number of Under-20 players.
Division Three challengers Carlow opened their season with a 27-11 win over Skerries in the Leinster Senior League Cup. In recent weeks, there have been reversals to Wanderers and Terenure College. Last Saturday they lost 20-6 to Terenure at Oak Park.
Coached by Australian Jason Jones, Carlow were pipped 16-13 by Midleton in the first round of last season’s AIB Cup. They will be captained on Saturday evening by experienced lock Wes Whitten.
Twelve months ago in the AIB Cup, Trinity scored a notable 23-17 opening round success over Sunday’s Well before falling to Clonakilty (19-3) in the second round.
Whoever wins at College Park on Saturday will face a trip to either Naas or Ballynahinch in the second round on November 1.
DUBLIN UNIVERSITY: Tim McCoy; Neil Hanratty, Peter Finnegan, Charles Coyle, Simon Courteney; Harry Murphy, Mark Reidy; Ian Hirst, Ian Marshall, Craig Telford, Ciaran Condron, Pierce Byrne, Dermot O’Riordan, Conor McGinn, Alan Mathews.
Replacements: Shane Hanratty, James Gethings, Jullian Mackey, Dave Wilson, Liam Power.
COUNTY CARLOW: Cian Moore; Steve Dalton, Russell Armstrong, Greg Jacob, Richie Whyte; Toni Alatini, Rory Stynes; Padraig Brennan, Kevin Corrigan, David Cassidy, Alex Michalovic, Wes Whitten, Barry Waddock, Tommy Ratahi, Shannon Brown.
Replacements: David Barron, Joe Gorman, Mark Slye, Derek Hayden, Gordon Rowe.
Referee: Dudley Phillips (Leinster)