Dungannon powered their way to victory in this free flowing Senior Cup encounter at sunny Deramore on Saturday. The visitors made it a dream start with two perfectly angled diagonal kicks from Jaryd Bennett allowing David Egner to crash over in the corner on five and eight minutes respectively. Stung by the 10 point reversal Harlequins settled with out-half, Mark Kettyle using his experience to point the home side in the right direction. Honours were even though until the 22nd minute when Gareth Rourke made the hard yards down the left flank. The Quins backs were up in support for Fintan Hilliard to dive over with Peter Foley converting. With just three points between the sides Dungannon, launched a mighty riposte with Glen Sinnamon and Mark Farquhar prominent as the pack moved forward. Quins forced play to touch though but then lost control at a lineout with Bennett sending Mark Faloon away on 25 minutes. Quins bounced back but failed to score despite a notable surge. Mark O’Shea then broke from defence to put Dungannon on the front foot. A ’knock on’ gave Quins the scrum close to their own line but Dungannon’s front five ensured a pick up from James McMahon who powered his way over for Bloomfield to convert. The halftime whistle saw Dungannon lead 22-7 at the break.
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Quins started the second half with intent and it took a notable tackle from O’Shea to halt fullback, Foley close to the line. Cool Dungannon then sent Egner running from defence and the counter attack worked a treat when Jason Bloomfield darted in with Mark Jenkinson up in close support on 45 minutes. Three minutes later the skipper was rewarded with a try following a superb break from Bennett. The latter converted and Dungannon were cruising at 34-7. Back came Quins and scrum-half Michael Kirkwood went close at the Dungannon line. Once more, a cheeky run from defence saw O’Shea go the full length of the pitch with an incredible jinky run to the posts. Bennett popped over the conversion to make it 41-7 on 53 minutes. Despite the gap the middle of the second half belonged to Quins. Yellow cards for Dungannon forwards Derek Hall and Paul Mccarroll allowed the home side to hit back with two tries. First it was Michael Willis on the hour mark and then Paul Rea following a ‘pick and drive’ on 67 minutes. Foley converted both to make it 41-21. However when Dungannon returned to a full compliment of players two more tries were added by the half-backs. A break, chip and catch brought Bennett a deserved try that Bloomfield converted on 75 minutes. In the dying seconds Bloomer completed his brace when he jinked away from a set scrum. The final whistle blew sending Dungannon into the second round on a 53-21 score line.
Dungannon:- Mark O’Shea, Jonny Toal, Richard Fletcher, Mark Faloon, David Egner, Jaryd Bennett, Jason Bloomfield, Glen Sinnamon, Phil Whyte, Mark Farquhar, Paul McCarroll, Mark Jenkinson, Michael Dunleavy, James McMahon. Replacements: Ben Howard, Paul Jackson, Timmy Smith, Jerome McClure, John McGuckin.
Belfast Harlequins: Peter Foley, Rory Kirkwood, Fintan Hilliard, Andy McPhail, Robbie Creighton, Mark Kettyle, Michael Kirkwood, Richard Lutton, Tom Fraser, Mark McGrath, Gareth Rourke, Alistair Heatley, Paul Rea, Ken McCombe, Andrew Gillespie. Replacements:- Michael Willis, Darryl Marshall.
Referee:- Stuart Gaffikin (Ulster)
