Tir Chonaill RFC travelled down to Donegal town to play their seconds in the Ulster minor league north.The weather held up well but a strong wind blowing across the field made for a day of hard kicking.
Donegal kicked off into the wind and an energetic Tir Chonaill side plucked it out of the air to run straight at the home side.Some quick passing out wide caught out the home defense with big Shaun Doogan bursting through the gap only to be caught in their 22 metre line,from the resulting lineout Tir Chonaill won possesion and with some outstanding passing and quick off loads saw Adrian TOPGUN O’ Colla score his first try for the club this season which went unconverted.Score 5-0.
Donegal kicked off again and with a quick catch Tir Chonaill stormed at the home defense again with great recycling and passing of the ball but the ref blew up for an offside in the ruck and Paul Gallagher converted the penalty.Score 8-0.
Just before the break Tir Chonaill broke through again with some great running off the ball it found its way to Conor Shovlin to score his first try also in only his second game in the black and white colours which went unconverted.Score 13-0 at the break
Spirits were high in the Tir Chonaill camp and the team talk was blunt and straight to the point which was to go on and finish the game off.
Tir Chonaill kicked off the second half into the strong wind and the home side drove in numbers and from the back of the scrum the home side launched a massive kick up into touch at the 22,Donegal won possesion from the lineout and bulldozed there way through the defense and over the line to put them back in the game again it went unconverted .Score 13-5.
That was as good as it got for home side as Tir Chonaill turned on the style with some great passing and running off the ball which led to the away side scoring a handful of tries from Jason Greene, Conor Shovlin,Adrian o’ Colla and Ciaran McCann and one conversion from the resilient Paul Gallagher.
With the home team losing 4 players through bad injuries and down to 13 men the referee blew the final whistle.A thoroughly enjoying game of rugby and a very physical encounter between the donegal rivals but all in good spirit at the final whistle.Big thank you to Donegal Town on there hospitality on the day and always a pleasure to play them.A whole team effort from Tir Chonaill with some great performances from the North West side.
Final Score Tir Chonaill RFC 35-5 Donegal Town rfc 2nds
Earlier in the day the minis of Tir chonaill travelled up to the same venue for an all county blitz which everyone in the team put in huge effort and saw great positives come out of it with some outstanding performances by the youngsters from the north west. Training for minis and youths resumes on tues at 6pm in Carrickfinn beside Donegal airport and followed by the seniors at 7pm all new members are welcome.
Image 060; Team Tir Chonaill from left; Joe McCann,Luke Quinn,Adrian O Colla,Shaun Doogan,James Doogan,Eugene Doogan,Seamus McDyer,Mark Doherty,Jason Greene,Eddie Sharkey
Front row; Ciaran McCann,David Reynolds,Paul Gallagher,Ross Ward,Caolan O Dea,Conor Shovlin,John Paul Baska,Fergus Sweeney and missing from picture is Ceri Noyle,Mick Patterson
