An 81 – 7 win over Ballymena RFC has earned the lads a deserved place in the Cup semi final against Lurgan. Monaghan set their stall out early with a brace of tries from full back Oisín Campbell and even though the Ballymena lads really put it up to their hosts throughout the first half, the scores from Monaghan just kept on coming with another from Campbell and one each from Dean Wilson and Micheal Savage to leave the score at H/T 33 – 7.
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The second half opened with a good period of hard hitting rugby from both sides and neither side looking willing to give anything away. Eventually James Treanor broke the deadlock with try following a piercing break up through the middle. After this it looked like the home side were scoring for fun with further tries from Ethan Murphy, Oisín Campbell, two for Karl McKenna and three from Michael Savage with the kicking duties shared between Stuart Allen and Oisín Campbell. At a glance it looked like our pack would be under pressure from the big Ballymena forwards but with Darragh Todd wearing his ‘No Fear’ sticker on his sleeve and taking on their biggest forward time and time again, the example was set for what the rest of the home forwards had to deliver and they didn’t disappoint with standout performances from Oisín Murphy, Mark & Stuart Allen and the ever dependable Kieran McQuaid. On a sad note, this was Dean Bothwell’s final game for Monaghan before he heads for Australia on Monday so it was a fitting send off for a very popular and hard working player. Bon Voyage to the Bothwell family. Our semi final will be away to Lurgan sometime over the next two weeks so plenty of hard work to be done between now and then because WE OWE THEM ONE! Training Wednesday @ 7.
