Randalstown 1st XV 7 Clougher Valley 1st XV 22 (Town’s Cup)
Despite another heavy fall of rain the Neillsbrook pitches got a chance to dry off for an hour before kick off and although conditions were heavy underfoot it was a dry and virtually windless afternoon when the game started.
The visitors kicked off playing down the hill and pretty much kept ‘Town pinned deep in their own territory in the opening minutes. The home defence was performing well but did concede an early penalty which Valley opted to take to the corner. It proved the wrong tactic and ‘Town’s line remained unbreached. A further opportunity minutes later however saw the visitors going for the sensible option and taking an early 3 point lead.
Randalstown restarted well, with McClenaghan putting in a huge hit on the influential clougher valley number 6 and he found Hume in support to secure ball deep in visitor territory. The experienced visitors cleared their lines again though and were straight back down the field where another penalty kicked to touch resulted in a try.
‘Town had a few opportunities to work their way back up the field, and good disruption by Mason on the wing saw ball turned over and a Randalstown penalty. The ball didn’t find touch on that occasion and a chance went begging.
As the half drew to a close Clougher Valley kept it tight and used their big men to pummel the home defence. Hurrell was sent to the bin for infringing at the breakdown and the visitors took advantage of an extra man to barge over for an unconverted try and turn round 15-0 up.
The home defence was sorely tested again at the start of the second half but some great defence by Chris Donnelly, Gary Hume, David Smith and Scott McClenaghan kept the visitors at bay. McWhirter was enjoying a fine performance at the base of a retreating scrum and the ball was cleared downfield.
Randalstown’s first clear scoring opportunity came when Niall McGlade broke down the left wing and supported by Donnelly they came within inches of the line. Buoyed by this ‘Town kept up the momentum and Smith and Connolly combined in the centre of the park to pop a lovely soft pass to Hurrell coming at pace and he sped in under the posts. Connolly added the conversion.
At this stage the ‘Town support felt that the match was there for the taking. Clougher Valley didn’t make a great fist of the restart and McWhirter gathered and passed back inside to allow the ball to be cleared downfield. The visiting touch judge then came into play with a blatantly wrong decision – i.e. that McWhirter had strayed into touch, when he was clearly a foot inside, and all of a sudden ‘Town were defending a lineout.
Dan McGlade and Liam Hurrell won a penalty on the 22 however and Connolly put the ball right back downfield to the visitors 22. Again the Valley defence was equal to all that ‘Town threw at them so all the efforts were in vain.
The clock was ticking down and ‘Town were still in the visitors 22 but then disaster struck and a Valley player was able to chase upfield where there was nobody home. He was caught yards from the line but unfortunately without ball in hand so a penalty try was awarded and the Qualifying 1 team ran out 22-7 winners.
The 15 Randalstown players who took the pitch gave 100 percent for 80 minutes and there was always potential for them to overturn this Clougher Valley side. Conor Ferry stepped up again from the 2nds and was his usual committed self, with a few good carries in tight territory throughout. The entire 15 could be mentioned for their contributions on the afternoon but in the end pick of the pack went to Gary Hume and McWhirter at scrum half caught the eye consistently, enabling the ‘Town backline to cut loose at times and look threatening despite the heavy underfoot conditions.
Next week the 1st XV are at home to Ballymoney 1st XV. Kick off as usual at 2.30 pm.
Randalstown 2nd XV 31 Dromore 2nd XV 5 (Crawford Cup)
On the other pitch the 2nd XV took on Dromore in the Crawford Cup and deservedly eased home with a 31-5 win.
The home side produced some superb running rugby in heavy conditions against their opponents who are currently in the top half of Junior 2, with forwards and backs displaying great handling skills. ‘Town were in top form from the start, with some aggressive defensive work putting Dromore under pressure and resulting in the home team having all the early territory. With 18 minutes played good work from Conceicao and Jamie Orr in midfield set up Conor Murray who jinked his way through a number of would be tackles to score a fine try. The versatile Murray, playing this week at 13, added the extras.
The ‘Town forwards really impressed and their set piece play was excellent for most of the game, with Kenny Pollin having his best game of the season to date. Phil Nelson returning after a couple of seasons absence due to injury and work commitments was prominent. From a Dromore scrum on their own 10 metre line ‘Town had them under pressure and when the ball squirted out Scott Goodrich pounced to secure possession on the Dromore line. The ball was recycled and Turner was held up before Orr sliced his way through to touch down in his final game for this season before his sojourn to Sweden.
Just before the interval a rare break from the visitors was thwarted by Andy White on his own try line as he managed to stall the attack and win a clearing penalty.
The start of the second half was a bit of a slog in the Neillsbrook mud. ‘Town were putting together a lot of phases of play without really threatening and a bit of ill discipline started to creep in through sheer frustration. However as they crept towards the hour mark a neat grubber kick from Mark Strange, displaying some of his father’s deft footballing skills, put the ball behind the Dromore defensive line and veteran winger Peter McCann, also making his first appearance in 2 seasons, dribbled the ball over the line to touch down.
With a bit of breathing space now ‘Town sat back a bit and allowed Dromore a spell of possession and territory from which they scrambled over 10 minutes later for an unconverted try.
This spurred the home side into a late surge and a Murray break set up ‘Town with possession deep in the visitors 22. The forwards went close a couple of times before Murray cut through, touched down and added the conversion.
With Dromore now looking for the final whistle Murray took advantage and danced his way through the defence from half-way to add another fine individual try. His conversion was the final action of the game to take the final score to 31-5.
This was probably the 2nd XV’s best all round game to date this season in difficult conditions, and considering the amount of injuries and unavailabilities in the club. Sammy Hyndman’s team really stood up and were counted.
Murray was the undoubted star of the show with a haul of 21 points, but there were also big games from Chris McGoldrick and Andy White in the back line. It was hard for manager Sloane to pick out individuals from a hard working forward unit but Scott Goodrich was always to the fore in the tight and loose.
Huge credit must go to Peter McCann , Willie Matthews and Phil Nelson on their return with strong performances after a few seasons away. Hopefully this is the start of a resurgent career for the trio.
