“Inishowen continue winning ways at home to Limavady”
Inishowen 45 – 0 Limavady 3rd XV
October 19th 2013
Inishowen welcomed Limavady 3rd XV to Carn on Saturday in the first meeting between the two sides this season. Both teams finished last seasons league in the top three and were evenly matched with a win apiece, with each side winning their home tie. A couple of changes from last week saw Paul Gallagher start at prop in place of John Kelly who missed the first half due to work commitments, captain Colm Sweeney was back in the familiar role of flanker due to a couple of players being unavailable and Mark Glashe started at 10. Dermot McGonagle moved to 13 with Connor Wood returning to fullback.
Inishowen kicked off through Dermot and from the start they looked to keep Limavady pinned back in their own half, good pressure in defence and counter rucking saw them turn over possession to go on the attack. Inishowen found themselves two tries up within 10 minutes, the first score coming on 6 minutes finished by Dermot and converted by Glasha. The next scorer was winger Seamus McDaid and Glasha added the extras, both tries came from quick hands spreading the ball out wide to the wings and the speed of Dermot and Ned was too much for the Limavady defence. The scrum was working well for the home side with a couple of balls won against the head, in the line out Anthony Boyle took on the throwing duties in John Kelly’s absence. Good work from Pauric McGonagle to steal ball on Limavadys line out on a couple of occasions turned possession over to Inishowen and ended any Limavady attack.
The young backline for Inishowen is showing plenty of confidence after some good performances in recent weeks and will look to attack from any position on the pitch but a couple of mistakes or loose passes halted proceedings when maybe the best option would have been to take contact and set up a ruck. A good break from Cantwell was almost finished by Jamie Lee but the ref penalised him for a double movement as he was tackled just short and stretched for the line. Another break by the jinking Loftus ended in a penalty for Inishowen when the visiting defender tackled high round the neck and was sin binned for 10 minutes. The home side opted for the posts and Glasha added the three points to stretch the lead to 17-0. The spectators on the sidelines were getting frustrated as Inish were dominating on the pitch but couldn’t turn the pressure into points as scoring opportunities went a begging. From a line out a driving maul was set up and made 30 metres at pace before the ball was knocked on when a score looked certain, the resulting scrum was won against the head but another knock on handed possession back to Limavady. Another score before half time through Cantwell was again converted by Glasha to leave the score 24-0 at halftime.
Coach Gregg Byron told the team that they would need to lower the mistakes and penalties in the second half. From the restart a knock on turned the ball over to the visitors who had their longest spell of the match in attack, solid defending and pressure on the ball carrier kept Limavady at bay. Inishowen regained possession and from a scrum 10 metres out Cantwell picked and went to the right before passing to scrum half Robert McClelland who dived over the line to score, a tricky kick from wide on the right was converted by Glasha. The ref went uncontested in the scrum after an injury to a Limavady front row player and this worked in Inishowen’s favour as the backline attacked from deep, the backs called for the ball wide on the left but a great individual move from Dermot who saw the defence rush up and chipped over the top gathering the ball at full pace before sprinting half the length of the pitch finishing under the posts for his second score of the day. Glasha added the extras to bring the score to 38-0. The final score of the day came from Limavady’s possession, pressure from the forwards turned the ball over and the counter attack caught the visitors flat footed the ball was spread to the left wing and Loftus sprinted in the score. Glasha converted to keep his 100% success rate for the day and the ref blew the final whistle as the match ended 45-0 to Inishowen. Plenty to work on during the week as the coaches try and work on the number of penalties being given away cheaply but another good result keeps Inishowen at the top of the table alongside last seasons league winners Strabane.
