UUC got their just rewards for a long and successful season when they defeated Letterkenny by 22 points to 17 in the final of this years Gordon West Cup.
Playing with the wind and against a physically bigger pack it was UUC who applied all of the early pressure with great driving from the lineouts and a powerful scrum. Letterkenny did however work their way back into the game and although they dominated possession for long periods of time they found no way through the tight UUC defence. Whenever the game opened up it was UUC who looked the more dangerous and indeed they scored their first try when winger Sam Hall received the ball on his own 10 metre line. Showing great speed and balanced running he outpaced the covering defence and rounded the last defender the score in below the posts. Alan Whitcroft converted to make it 7-0. For the remainder of the half UUC kept soaking up the Letterkenny attacks and looked to play the ball deep into the opposition half to exert their own pressure. This resulted in the second UUC try after a great catch and drive hooker Richard McNeely was on hand to touch down in the corner. The try was unconverted.
UUC pressurised for the remainder of the half and turned down several kickable penalties to try and secure another try. Letterkenny managed to defend these attempts and with the half time whistle sounding the coaching staff hoped they wouldn't rue those decisions.
When the match resumed it was Letterkenny, now playing with the wind, that began to dominate. Again the UUC defence stood firm and managed to work their way out of defence pushing the Letterkenny team towards their own goal line. From a scrum 5 metres out Number 8 Peter Smyth spotted a large gap in the Letterkenny defence and picked up from the base to show great leg power to carry several defenders over the line for UUC's third try. Again this was unconverted with Whitcroft hitting the upright with his kick. At this stage UUC were beginning to dominate against a tiring Letterkenny team. This resulted in another score when prop Jamie Wilkinson burst over the line for another unconverted try. This made the score 22-0 and UUC seemed to be coasting. However to their credit Letterkenny never gave up and they soon scored two tries of their own. The first came when their full back split the UUC defence to score from 20 metes out and the second from a series of pick and drives close to the UUC try line, both were unconverted. UUC worked hard to run the clock down but it was Letterkenny who had the last say scoring from the final play of the game.With the successful conversion kicked the referee blew for full time leaving UUC well deserved winners by 22-17.
It was only left for injured UUC skipper Andy Hazzard, who had broke his leg in the semi final victory over PSNI, to negotiate the stairs and lift the Trophy.
