Randalstown 1st XV 39 Donegal 5
After a slightly shaky start Randalstown settled quickly to the task and ran in easy winners in the end at Neillsbrook on Saturday afternoon.
Having been awarded a penalty in their own 22 ‘Town worked their way up the park courtesy of Coulter, McGlade and Montgomery and were rewarded with a further penalty, this time within kicking distance and Wilson took his chance well to open the scoring.
The restart was easily enough gathered by the home side but Donegal played some determined rugby and for about 10 minutes there was no clear advantage coming and most of the play took place between the 22 yard lines. Then up stepped Montgomery having made space in the centre, he then used his not insignificant pace to touch down and settle the ‘Town nerves. Wilson added the extra points.
A few minutes later John O’Kane crossed the line out wide on the left and a collective sigh of relief was heard through the waiting crowd as it seemed that the result would not now be in doubt.
Town came close again when Wilson cleared well up the line and McGlade was well up to gather and ensure the ball stayed in play, but they well held up just short. In the dying seconds of the half Ryan McGarry stretched his legs to add to his season’s tally and Randalstown went into the break 20 – 0 ahead.
The second half didn’t start to plan for Randalstown at all however as Donegal having brought a lot of pressure to bear on ‘town through their bulky front row were rewarded for their efforts with a try. The conversion was just missed.
Shortly after Donegal lost their prop with an injury and scrums became uncontested. Randalstown conceded some ground to the opposition though and a couple of wrong decisions gave Donegal lineout advantage around the halfway line. The opposition lineout was contested well by Allen but unfortunately he was adjudged to have knocked on. Donegal were then further reduced as their centre was sent to the bin for a blatant stamp and Randalstown took full advantage opting to go for touch and use the extra man advantage to rumble over via Sammy Hyndman. The conversion sneaked in off the post for Wilson who was having a good day with the boot.
The try of the afternoon came from centre William Montgomery. After some good work by Wilson, supported by Fleck, Montgomery was on hand to take a lovely pass on the 22 and run in for his 2nd try of the afternoon.
Sammy Hyndman also ran in a second try just before the final whistle which was well deserved.
This was a good all round performance from Randalstown and Ryan Wilson and Ryan Ings playing in unfamiliar positions acquitted themselves very well.
Team: Coulter R McGarry B McGarry W Montgomery McGlade Wilson O’Kane Millar Finlay Foster (Capt) Allen Hyndman Fleck Hume Ings
Randalstown 2nd XV recorded a victory over CIYMS 4s on Saturday winning 10 – 7 away. Details of this victory will be available soon.
Next week the 1st XV and 3rd XV have no game scheduled, while the 2nd XV entertain Lurgan at Neillsbrook.
Randalstown 3rd XV 7 Carrick 5th XV 59
The 3rds came up against an unbeaten Carrick 5ths and it was easy to see why they are still unbeaten. From the start Carrick showed their intent with wave after wave of attacks on the town line. It was only a matter of time before they broke through and that happened in the tenth minute. The conversion was missed.
Carrick continued to attack and scored their second shortly after followed by a third, both of which they converted. At this point ‘Town charged down a kick in midfield and from the resulting scramble young centre McMaster intercepted a pass and won the foot race to touch down with scrum half Service converting. Carrick hit back to score three more converted try’s before halftime to leave the score at 7 points to 40.
In the second half ‘Town conceded an early unconverted try and then held the line with a solid defensive display to keep Carrick out until near the end when they scored two more converted try’s as ‘Towns defence finally tired.
While they may have dominated in attack Carrick did not have it all their own way as Town could justifiably claim the bragging right in both scrum and lineouts by winning more than their fair share in each area.
Team :- R Duncan, I Harrison, M Kennedy, T McMaster, A Spiers, P Duff A Service M Hamilton (Capt), B Hamilton, T Devlin, M Reeves, A Barron, F McConnon, M Savage, N Mulholland.
With the large number of players at all levels currently we have outgrown our Neillsbrook facilities. Thankfully Lord O’Neill has stepped in to re-open Dunmore Park and we are indebted to him for providing this facility. Robin Logue and Derek Waddell have worked tirelessly to prepare the surface for playing again and this week the Under 19s were first to play a competitive 15 a side game at the ‘Park’ No doubt it will see a lot more competition as the season progresses.
RANDALSTOWN U19s FAIL TO MATCH FIRST HALF PERFORMANCE
Randalstown U19s lost their second successive League fixture when they went down 15-24 to Carrick at the re-instated “Dunmore Park” pitch on Saturday. It was a disappointing result and second half performance after a good opening 35 minutes during which the team gave itself a real chance of victory.
Playing up the hill Randalstown had more than their fair share of the ball as they turned round 0-0 at the break. However instead of building on that great work they conceded early and poor tries.
After going down 0-7 Randalstown got their first points through a Matthew Turner penalty. Carrick though then scored another two tries to lead 3-17 before right wing Michael Moore finished off a fine move to score that when Turner converted made the score 10-17.
Straight from the re-start though Carrick scored to go 10-24 ahead and although replacement wing Emmett Crawford finished off a fine break by No.8 David Smith there was no way back for Randalstown.
Injured
Hopefully a few of the injured players will start to return this week when they host Ballyclare and if the team can play for 70 minutes as they did in the first half against Carrick then a recovery to better form is possible.
On Saturday second row Liam McLoughlin, hooker Pedro Conceicaso and Smith put in good performances, while flanker Conor Ferry playing in the centre, wing Andrew Sloane and full back Stephen Irvine were safe under the high ball.
Man of the Match though was flanker Ian Hume who put in yet another 70-minute game of all-action tackling and support play. This was despite picking up a couple of arm injuries.
RANDALSTOWN U19. Stephen Irvine, Michael Moore, Peter McWhirter, Conor Ferry, Andrew Sloane, Matthew Turner, Jamie Barron, Scott McClenaghan, Pedro Conceicaso, Alistair Reeves, Liam McLoughlin, James Gourley, Shane McBurney, Ian Hume, David Smith. Replacements: Gareth Pollin, Wes Chan, Jason Mulgrew, Mark Rawlinson, Emmett Crawford
RANDALSTOWN U17XV WIN RETURN LEG OF LOCAL DERBY
Randalstown U17XV made the short journey to Eaton Park, Ballymena for the away leg of their league campaign where conditions were perfect for open running rugby.
The opening 25 minutes was dominated by both sets of forwards, with little between the teams and Ballymena defended every Randalstown attack. However the pressure told when after an Andrew Burns surging drive to the Ballymena goal line an excellent pick up and drive by Gareth Pollin put the first points on the score board with Brian Mulholland converting.
Randalstown then brought their backs into the game and from their own “22” the ball was passed the full length of the back line and Aaron Cordner playing on the wing had the strength to stay on his feet and feed full back Nathan Storer. Storer chipped the Ballymena defence to score an unconverted try to make the score 0-12.
Ballymena then mounted a determined assault and were camped within the Randalstown “22” for what seemed an eternity. The Randalstown defence repelled what looked like 3 or 4 certain tries with the situation relieved when Randalstown conceded a penalty and Ballymena kicked the 3 points.
Randalstown were straight back on the attack from the restart and when Mulholland kicked from his “22” the Ballymena defence failed to field the high ball and the luck of the bounce favoured Mulholland following up his kick. He gathered the ball and ran the length of the pitch to score an unconverted try to make the half time score 3-17.
Started
Ballymena started the second half with a try when their wing forward broke though the Randalstown pack from the half way line to score in the corner as uncharacteristically three of four tackles were missed.
The visitors then moved up a gear and when Ballymena failed to find touch from their “22” Storer gathered the ball chipped the Ballymena defence and skillfully managed to ground the ball despite the attention of three Ballymena defenders.
Randalstown then increased their lead with further tries by Mulholland and Storer leaving the final score 8-32 where Randalstown’s man of the match was hooker Pollin for his relentless work in the loose and for his fine support play resulting in the opening try.
Overall though the pack need to improve their loose play as on too many occasions they let Ballymena into the game by not securing the ball. The backs again showed their quality with eye-catching running and tries of quality and skill.
Randalstown’s Youth sides entertain Coleraine on Saturday.
Randalstown U17 Squad: Andrew Burns, Gareth Pollin , Sean Mackey, James Clyde, Killian McGlade, Shane McBurney (Capt), Joseph Cross, John Carson, Jamie Barron, Brian Mulholland, Bryan Gourley, Grant Taylor, Nathan Storer, Jamie Mairs, Aaron Cordner, Kyle McCabe
All parents and players over 18 are reminded that the Under Age Section’s Table Quiz will be held in the club on Saturday night at 8.00pm, £5.00 per entrant.
After all the on pitch action many adjourned to the Ross Park Hotel for the evening to attend the club formal.
The guests were welcomed by Vice President Gregor Sloane and we hope everyone enjoyed the evening. This dinner, together with the Super Draw are the key fundraisers for the club this season and as ever there are projects within the club awaiting the necessary funds to become available.
Any support you can offer at any time will be most welcome.
A pressing issue at the present time is the continued development of the pitch at Dunmore. We are actively seeking a 20 x 8 Steel container and lighting so that the facility can be used for training. There are 10 teams currently using the facilities down at the clubhouse and as the wet weather continues the two pitches there will not withstand this volume of traffic so if you can assist in any way please contact Derek Waddell.
