RAINEY II 21 – 45 CITY OF DERRY II
In the Second XV League, Rainey were short of several of their squad when City of Derry beat them 45-21 at Hatrick Park. Full-back J.Cassidy, their best player on the day, flanker M.Dawson and centre N.Irwin scored Rainey’s tries.
BALLYMENA III 19 – 30 RAINEY III
Junior 3 21st September 2013
Scores: Patterson(1*Try), Kidd(1*Try), Donnelly(2*Try), Dillon(2*Pen, 2*Conv)
Eaton Park was the venue as Rainey claimed their first win of the season, in a physical encounter. As the teams ran onto the pitch, Ballymena and the Rainey coaches were taken aback by the gaiety of several of the Rainey players colourful footwear, Stephen Beattie and Connor Magee in particular wearing Gay Pride bootlaces.
Rainey got of to their usual slow start and conceded a try under the posts after only two minutes due to a couple of basic errors while in possession in their own half. To add to this, Padraig O’Neill suffered an ankle injury whilst making a tackle and manfully played on until half time before he was wisely retired.
Play swung back and forth for the next ten minutes as both sides tested out each others defenses, with some particularly strong running from Paddy Kidd and Mark Montgomery. Rainey began to dominate whenever they spread the ball wide and after Connor O’Kane smashed a couple of the opposition out of a ruck, wily scrum-half Connor Magee whipped the ball to Ian Patterson who showed some lovely footwork on the Ballymena 22’ as he spun out of a tackle and turned on the gas to power over for Rainey’s first try.
This gave Rainey the confidence they needed and Paddy Kidd was next over the line after some great buildup play by vice captain, Declan McKenna, who gave a pop pass at just the right time. Paul Dillon was on-hand to punish any indiscipline from Ballymena as he knocked over two penalties and came close with a third during the course of the match.
Rainey shut out the opposition who were camped in the Rainey 22’ for several minutes just before half time with some strong tackling from powerful hooker, Stephen Beattie, and a last ditch double tackle close to the line by Ciaran McIvor and Kenny Irvine.
The second half turned into a real nailbiter, as both sides traded points and no side was ever ahead by much. The physical battle up front saw some big hits put in from both sides, as young guns John McKenna and Connor O’Kane went toe-to-toe with their much larger opponents.
Ballymena added to their tally with a kick and chase which resulted in a try scored in the corner. However, a few minutes later, Mark Donnelly was in support as Mark Montgomery and Daultach Johnston both made great yards in a counterattack. A perfectly executed grubber from the mercurial Montgomery saw the winger stretch and dot the ball down in the right hand corner.
Injuries now started to take their toll on the game as Ian Patterson took a hard knock to his knee and the Ballymena outhalf had to retire due to an injury. The win was assured when it looked as if the Braidmen would snatch victory. With a three-on-one in the Rainey half, their centre threw a pass which Mark Donnelly anticipated, took the gamble, and went for the intercept. He raced off up the pitch to score under the posts and earn Rainey their first try bonus victory.
An impressive win, but as management duo Gerry McCann and Eamon Campbell rightly pointed out, still room for lots of improvement which augurs well for the season.
Man of the Match goes to Mark Donnelly who was a constant threat in open play all day and showed his clinical finishing for both tries.
Next week sees Ballynahinch V travel to Hattrick Park for a 2:30p.m kick off. All support welcome.
TEAM: D.Kidd, S.Beattie, D.McKenna, I.Patterson, C.O’Kane, C.McIvor, M.Montgomery, J.McKenna, C.Magee, K.Irvine (c), P.Kidd, P.Dillon, D.Johnston, M.Donnelly, P.O’Neill
INSTONIANS 10 – 20 RAINEY
Ulster League 18th September
Scores: O’Connor(1*Try, 1*Pen, 1*Conv), Lees(1*Try), O’Kane(1*Try)
Last Wednesday evening, a travelling Rainey Old Boys defeated Instonians 20-10 at Shaw’s Bridge. Sticking to their rotation policy in the build-up to the AIL, Rainey brought in five players for their first taste of competitive rugby this season and one of them, scrum-half Alan McCluggage, made a significant impact after Instonians had taken a tenth minute lead with a converted try and missed a very kickable penalty. The Rainey forwards gradually got going with replacements O’Kane and Lees involved in the play which brought them an O’Connor penalty after 35 minutes.
On the restart, wing Irwin led the chase when Martin kicked downfield and was ushered into touch near the corner when play moved back acrossfield. But from the lineout, Lees swooped at the tail, with O’Connor adding the points. With Dawson bossing the lineout and Mulholland making inroads into the home defence, Rainey took over and Martin sent O’Connor away for a fine try.
Instonians replied with a penalty, but a McCluggage break and a penalty to the corner produced a try for captain O’Kane. With 25 minutes still to play, a bonus point looked a formality, but a few bizarre refereeing decisions and too much ball lost in contact caused the game to peter out in the closing minutes.
TEAM: G.Martin, A.Clarke, Jody McMurray, N.Stirling, M.O’Connor, M.Pyper, A.McCluggage, S.Rutledge, M.Caithness, A.Kirk, D.Dawson, M.Shiels, M.Dawson, P.Heaney, S.Mulholland.
REPLACEMENTS : N.O’Kane, J.Lees, S.Sufferin, J.Fleming, N.Irwin.
