Co Cavan 1st 22 – 19 Lisburn
Cavan got their league campaign off to a winning start when they defeated a big Lisburn team at Swellan on Saturday.It was a lovely day for rugby and the lads were looking forward to the game,we had played a few friendly’s over the last few weeks and things were coming together nicely.For the first twenty minutes Cavan were camped inside the Lisburn half but just could not get that try which at times looked on,eventually Lisburn gave away a penalty which was converted by C Crowe.Lisburn hit back fairly quickly they broke into our 22 but now we gave away a pen they went for a line-out and their big pack drove us back an they got a converted try.Cavan again put pressure on Lisburn with some great drives by (capt) G.Gillispie,Brown,Kelly and Mc Cormack then some quick hands by the flying backs C.Leddy,C.Crowe,C.Hughes P.Mulligan and S. Brady drove Lisburn back into their 22 no8 Mc Cormack came onto a pass from the ever alert no 9 J.Crowe and Mc Cormack made no mistake as he crossed for Cavans 1st try conv C.Crowe,we were soon on the score board again after we missed a pen kick and Lisburn tried to run the ball from their own try line but were well tackled by Wellman,Blackie and Leddy they gave away a pen, Gillispie took quick tap and burst his way over conv C.Crowe.Lisburn again got into our 22 and after some strong running by there pack and our missed tackles they got in for another conv try. H.T. Cavan 17 – 14 Lisburn. With rolling subs allowed in this league it was great to be able to change lads around if they needed a rest ,the second half started very well for us and again after some good carrying by the forwards C.Crowe spun the ball out wide to G.Fay who replaced the inj C.Hughes,Fay seen the gap and he burst through it and passed to C.Leddy who was now operating on the wing he made great ground before drawing the Lisburn fullback he then offloaded to fullback P.Mulligan who was in great support to cross for Cavans third try conv J.Crowe ,this is probably one of the best trys we seen scored in a while. For the next 15 or 20 mins Lisburn kept the pressure on us we also gave away a lot of silly penalty’s which didn’t help eventually they got a5 meter line-out and drove us over to score their third try there was only minutes left and we held out for the win 22 – 19. Overall we played well, yes our scrums have to improve and line-out was not as good as in the previous games but our rucking and ball carrying from the pack was sound and the back line did their job well with some good quick hands by J.Crowe and C.Leddy and a few big hits by centers G.Loughnane and C.Hughes whos hit on his opposite no was exellent, wingers D.Lynch and S.Brady also did there job well,at fullback P.Mulligan had an exellent game and his try was top class.C.Crowe and G.Fay also had a big part to play when they came on Fay for his break which led to Mulligans try and the game management of Crowe and his fine touch line kicks.We need to make Swellan a place that no team likes to come to play, so big effort needed at training to sort out a few things training tuesday and thursday nights 7.45 everyone out, good tuck to the lads that picked up a few injuries on sat. We have no game next saturday, Next league game Saturday week v Donegal.
