Gordon West Cup, Limavady RFC I XV 38 v Lurgan RFC I XV 14 (07/02/15)

Gordon West Cup Quarter Final

Lurgan 14 Limavady 38

Deja Vu For Roesiders

For the second Saturday in succession, Limavady left Pollock Park with a hard earned victory, The Mid-Ulster venue is a notoriously difficult location to ever gain anything, but a clinical start to each half put paid to any ideas the home side of making progress in this cup competition which is for teams from Qualifying Leagues 3 and 4.

Last week it was tries that got the North-West off to a flying start, but this week it was three excellent penalties from full back Pearse McNickle as Limavady opened up a 9-0 lead after just 11mins. The first try of the day arrived in the 16th minute. Following on from a lineout, outhalf Grg Jordan kicked behind the home rearguard who failed to deal with the bounce of the ball. Openside flanker Daniel Irvine capitalised on this to gather the ball and race clear to score in the corner. McNickle took his points tally for the day to 11points as he knocked over the conversion from the sideline.

The rest of the half became a rather scrappy affair with the homeside enjoying alot of possession, but found the visitors in no mood to let them back into the game.

Half Time Lurgan 0 Limavady 16

Just like the 1st half, it was the the visitors who came out of the blocks the better, and the 3rd quarter produced a most clinical display of rugby that they have played for sometime. Substitute Lee Clyde accepted an off load from Perry Semple after the flanker broke through the homesides defence to score try number two. A Pearse McNickle penalty extended the lead further and then on the hour mark captain Marcus McCollum crossed the whitewash for try number three. With the extras added Limavady held a comfortable 31-0 lead. The next ten minutes turned out to be Limavady’s worst period of the game. With the minds switched off, the excellent play of the first 20mins was replaced by sloppiness and poor tackling. Lurgan made the most of this and got on the scoreboard with tries from their second row and hooker. Both were converted by their out-half.

The response from the visitors was a lot better in the last ten minutes. After leaving a few tries behind due to poor decision making and some frantic play, Perry Semple capped a fine second half touching down on 76 mins. Pearse McNickle rounded off a fine day with the boot with his third conversion of the day. This brought the Full Back’s tally for the day to 18 points.

Final Score Lurgan 14 Limavady 38

Again, another pleasing victory at a very tough venue, with the foundations of this potentially tricky tie being made by great starts to both the 1st and 2nd half. The Roesiders now await the semi final draw.

Team. P. McNickle, R. Moore, P. Wilson, C. Hunter, J. King, G. Jordan, J. Miller. C. Scott, I. Campbell, J. McCollum, M.Rice, M.McCollum, P. Semple, D. Irvine, A Miller. Subs. L.Clyde, S. Roddy.

The seconds ended a run of defeats with a fine 20-8 home win against Academy 2nds. Hopefully this result reignites their promotion challenge.

Next week sees just the Saracens in action as they head for County Donegal to play Tir Chonaill. Kick off in Carrickfinn is at 2.30pm