While First Trust Ulster League leaders Dungannon had to field without their Ulster Ravens contingent,Rainey Old Boys chose to rest a number of regulars for their meeting at Hatrick Park.And while Rainey’s young squad gave a good account of themselves,Dungannon had enough power up front to establish a winning lead midway through the second half and hold on for a 29-17 victory which maintains their unbeaten record and keeps them one point ahead of Belfast Harlequins at the top of the table.
Rainey were at their most competitive when they had their more physical ball carriers on the park.They made life difficult for themselves at times by making some unforced errors and poor decisions,but they can be reasonably satisfied with their overall display.Their scrum was solid throughout,with flanker Paul Heaney again a tower of strength around the fringes,but their inability to guarantee possession on their own lineout throw remains a source of frustration.Dungannon were good enough to make the opposition pay for their mistakes and,thanks to some astute tactical kicking,were able to close the game out in the dying minutes.
Rainey made a bright start with Heaney leading the way,but spurned a certain three points to go for a try and were easily repelled.After ten minutes,the Dungannon pack managed to wheel a Rainey scrum and from the reset moved it wide for O’Shea to cross for a try which Lawton converted from a wide angle.
Rainey again threatened only to come away with nothing and a Lawton penalty eased Dungannon further in front.Martin replied for Rainey after a series of drives,but a sliced touch kick from Sciascia put them under pressure and it took a very timely turnover to enable them to clear the danger.They created a clear overlap on halfway,but a wayward pass from Montgomery,followed by some ineffective tackling,allowed Lawton to go in for Dungannon’s second try just before the whistle.
Rainey took the game to the Stevenson Park men after the break,but their lack of accuracy out of touch continued to haunt them.A Dungannon forward was sin-binned before Hawe put Rainey back in the game with a lovely try beneath the posts.Forwards O’Kane and Heaney combined to punch a hole in the Dungannon defence and second-row Hall got up in support to deliver the scoring pass.Martin converted.Realizing the need to raise their game,Dungannon pinned Rainey back with some intelligent kicking and made the hard yards through the pack for Jackson to score.A quickly taken free kick for a crooked feed then took them deep into the home 22′ and from a penalty Smith forced his way over for try number four.
Trailing 29-10,Rainey grabbed another fine try after 68 minutes when the pack took it on from a lineout in the corner and hooker Sufferin took a clever little reverse pass from Sciascia to dive over close to the posts.
TEAM : A.Clarke,A.Campbell,W.Montgomery,D.Mc Murray,M.Mc Clelland,G.Martin,P.Sciascia,S.Mc Dowell,K.Donaghy,R.Hill,R.Hall,N,Rankin,A.Dysart,P,Heaney,D.Dawson.
REPLACEMENTS : N.O’Kane,S.Hawe,P.Boyle,J.Mc Bride,S.Sufferin.
Rainey’s next game is in the Ulster League against Armagh on Sat.,31 December at Hatrick Park.The AIL resumes on January 28 when Connemara visit Magherafelt.
