Reddan revels at Lansdowne

A GIANT KILLING exercise failed to materialise in the Leinster Cup final. Lansdowne painstakingly put themselves into a comfortable lead on their home ground before cutting loose against Bective in a match that ultimately went only one way on Saturday.

Alan Reddan, the winners' left wing, enjoyed the space on a beautiful Lansdowne pitch to collect three tries and a drop goal. Captain Mark McDermott, showing a touch of pace and the hint of a feign, also went over, along with replacement Roddy Corrigan who came on at the end of the game in a mass substitution by the Lansdowne bench. Bective replied only once when scrum half Des Jackson fed off Ben Kealy to score in the left corner 15 minutes into the second half.

Lansdowne now will be fortunate to hold on to their hooker McDermott for next season as he takes up a position as an IRFU development officer in the Munster region.

Large as the final margin was, Bective made their opponents' pack work for their reward and when Lansdowne went into the break 15-3 ahead, there was still some room for Rangers to bridge the gap.

But when McDermott decided to say on the right and wait for the ball to sweep back across the pitch and into his hands from the left, the fry took Lansdowne to 20-3 and well beyond their opponents' reach.

Jackson's score helped Bective morale but Reddan immediately replied with a drop goal before adding his third fry on the left with a deft side step around full back Craig Whelan. Then Corrigan added to Bective's misery as Lansdowne romped home in the final stages.

"We made very heavy weather of it in the second half," said coach Paul Clinch. "But the one thing we did when we got a bit clear was that we showed that we had a little bit of class at the end of the day. I was very pleased with that aspect of our game.

"It's hard to play well through an entire match like today and for about half an hour in the game Bective were well in it, particularly at the end of the first half and again at the beginning of the second.

"I think we proved that although we may not be the best team in the country, we're not far off it and hopefully next season we can change that around."