After the euphoria of Ireland’s historic victory over Australia, (and a big thank you to all who attended the World Cup Breakfast, with special thanks to sponsor, Lexie Beatty of Beatty’s Spar) Enniskillen suffered a blow on Saturday, toppling out of the Junior Cup at the first hurdle. Not only is this a blow in rugby terms, but also off the field, as any future revenue from home draws later in the competition evaporated.
It was a disappointing performance in general, especially so given the way the side performed in their first two games, especially defensively. The attitude didn’t appear to be right and hopefully this is not the type of display that will be witnessed away from Mullaghmeen as the season progresses.
Overall it was a scrappy encounter but ‘Skins did look dangerous when they did manage to mount any sort of attack, but it just wasn’t often enough and the backs were to the wall after Grosvenor took an early lead.
‘Skins did manage two tries in the first half through Nigel Johnston, returning after the nasty cut suffered against Bangor in the opening game, and Andrew Dixon, who has stepped into the side this season and performed well. Unfortunately James McIntyre was unable to convert these scores, but did slot over a great penalty from full on 45 metres, with the angle.
Grosvenor matched ‘Skins scoring, eventually surpassing them, but a third try did come from winger Chris Slevin. To score three tries and lose was a bitter pill to swallow, especially for the coaches, who on reflection felt that any performance approaching those against Bangor and Ballyclare would have yielded 30 – 40 points!
‘Skins must get this out of the system on Tuesday and get ready for the trip to Larne next Saturday to face the newly promoted hosts. Anything but 100% will simply not do.
FIXTURES
1st XV – Away – Larne
2nd XV – Away – Larne
3rd XV – Home – Omagh III – FRIDAY 23rd Sept.
