Randalstown made the short trek to Mallusk for this friendly fixture with Ophir.A few minor adjustments were made to the teams so that everyone got game time and the welcome ‘Branch’ referee blew for kick off.The Randalstown lads quickly showed their intent immediately taking the game to the opposition and when winger Eoin Letters scampered down the wing to touch down it signalled what was to come.Patrick Mitchell showing increased determination and aggression punched holes in the Ophir defence and eventually burst through for a try beneath the posts before seven times capped Stephen Logan got on the scoresheet with a fine try and could have even had a second if he had practised his juggling skills.Centre James Murphy then used his considerable speed and evasive powers to touch down for the fourth try, Ruari Griffin adding the conversion.The last try of the half was a storming individual effort from captain Curtis Gay bursting through several tackles from all of thirty metres to leave the half time score 31-0.
Fair play to Ophir perseverance paid off when they scored two fine tries of their own in the second half and Randalstown had to focus more on defence, James Murphy and Conor Doran putting in great tackles.Andrew Stewart put in a tremendous amount of work all through the game.Daniel Cullen capped a ‘man of the match’ performance at scrumhalf with a superb try to bring the game to a close 38-10.Whilst no one will get carried away with this performance it was a good confidence building measure to be playing more matched opponents after all it is about development and fairness to Ophir for their sportsmanship and were deserved of their performance in the second half getting their two scores.
Team-Andrew Stewart,Luke Kirkwood,Ryan Magill,Patrick Mitchell,Conor Doran,Curtis Gay,Daniel Cullen,Ruari Griffin,Eoin Letters,Sean O Rawe,James Murphy,Stephen Logan,Eoghan Mc Ateer
