On Saturday the “Deramore Devels” travelled to Mullaghmeen to play Enniskillen in the Junior Cup a game that was to provide much entertainment and drama for the large Enniskillen support.
The game was as expected a battle of strenght and awareness with both sides giving nothing in their tackles and rucks although the “Devels” were guilty too often for infringements letting the home side have much of the ball, yet they were unable to convert this possession into points.
Although he Skins forward unit was effective they found it impossible to break Quins defence especially on Quins own try line where some massive tackles and awareness of attacking options held the home side out.
It was not until 32 mins that Skins found a weakness in Quins defence and managed to run in a well finished converted try, the half ended at 7 – 0 for the home side.
Enniskillen had managed to dominate the srum but after half time and a few changes this changed giving the “Devels” an attacking platform but Skins experienced defence held off any scoring opportunities and the Belfast side made a number of handling errors again spoiling some excellent scoring opportunities.
On the 55 min mark the work rate of the Belfast side defence showed and weaknesses started to show in defence aligment this resulted in the home side scoring a converted try again as a result of the open play but they could not manage to dominate the tight area of the game.
Quins had a number of good breaks with scoring oppertunities, the most notable by the captain, Mark McGrath who ploughed his way through the home side defence up to 2 mtrs from the line but support was slow and the chance lost, this would have been the turning point of the game but not to be.
The final score was 29 – 0 for the home side but it did not reflect the game that was played by both sides and not one for the faint hearted.
Belfast Harlequins wish Enniskillen good luck in the next round of the Junior Cup
