SPIRITED DISPLAY BY ARDSMEN IN ULSTER SENIOR LEAGUE
Ards 6 V 26 Dungannon
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Dungannon from Section 1B of the All Ireland League were the visitors to Hamilton Park last Saturday for another Ulster Senior League match. Ards made five changes to their starting line up from their last game and seven changes in total to the squad.
Neil Armstrong made a welcome return to the right wing and put in a sterling first half performance before being forced off with injury.
Ryan Yates slotted into the backrow and was not found wanting at this level, with some big hits and good ball carries.
Jonny Dawson in the second row had an excellent all round game and the Dodd brothers were a revelation in the front and back row respectively. Willie Dodd at tight head gave his much vaunted opposite number a difficult afternoon and locked the Ards scrum effectively and Adrian Dodd, playing openside flanker was all agression and a thorn in the side of the Dungannon back row.
Ards kicked off with a light breeze at their backs and took the game to the visitors with the pack producing good clean possession. In the 5th minute Neil Armstrong found some space on the half way line and his speed took him past two defenders. He then drew the full back and found Jonny Beggs in support on his outside. His pass put Beggs clear to run in but sadly the referree called play back for a forward pass that looked marginal.
Ards continued on the front foot, with some intelligent kicking from out half Mark Banford and Dungannon did not get on the score board until the 22nd minute when they scored an unconverted try wide out on the right wing.
Ards were undeterred and were unfortunate to be held up on the line following a catch and drive from a lineout. Paul Cox converted a penalty in the 25th minute and the same player slotted over another penalty from the 10 metre line five minutes later to give Ards a 6-3 lead.
There was little between the sides as the scoreline suggested, but Ards were caught off guard with the last play of the first half. Dungannon were awarded a penalty 25 metres out and although it appeared they had opted to kick for the posts, instead they took a quick tap and scored an opportunists try which was converted to give them a 6-12 lead at the interval.
In the second period,Dungannon came into the game more strongly and extended their lead to 6-19 with a converted try after 55 minutes. Ards response was hampered by two yellow cards in quick succession with first Andrew Foster and then Gareth Quinn spending ten minutes each in the dug out.
The 13 Ardsmen had to dig deep at this stage and they did so with considerable determination. So much so, in fact, that Dungannon failed to score when Ards were depleted and they were repelled by a strong densive line that stayed intact under pressure.
Indeed it seemed there would be no more scoring as the match wore on until the last two minutes when Dungannon eventually broke through with a converted try to leave them the winners at 6-26, a score line that did not fully reflect the balance of play in the game.
Ards will take some plus points from this very competitive game and with no match on Saturday the squad will be concentrating their efforts on the training pitch before resuming All Ireland League duties away to Barnhall in Dublin on 27th October.
The Ards squad for the Dungannon match was; Millar, Quinn, Foster, Dawson, McCausland, Yates, Minis, Graham (Capt), Agnew, Banford, Armstrong, Taylor, Parkhill, Cox, J. Beggs, W. Dodd, A. Dodd, McIlwaine, Young, N. Beggs.
Slowly but surely!!
It was good to see Peter Devlin at the club on Saturday, Peter remains on crutches and continues to slowly recover.
Michael Taylor remains incapacitated due to his knee injury an MRI scan has revealed an operation is probably needed.
Our thoughts go out to all other injured Ards players; hopefully you all make full recoveries soon.
Willie Ennis aka Worm back at Ards last Saturday
It was good to see former Ards U20’s player Willie Ennis aka Worm back at Ards last Saturday.
Worm had returned home from Maidstone for the weekend to meet up with his old Under 20’s mates Conor McCullough, Paul McMenamin, Steven Jordan and Mathieu Wilson (to name but a few)for Adam McKee’s birthday.
A good time was had by all in the rugby club then at the M Club in Belfast.
1 man away down under; another 1 returning!!
Rumour has it that Crazy Dave is returning!!
Talk around the clubhouse on Saturday was that Crazy Dave aka Davy Algie is returning from his adventures in Oz this winter……..
If he is coming home what’s he going to do as his old drinking/fall asleep partner Chris Allen is married off now!!
Glen Dugan is off to Christchurch for a new job!!
Ards player, Comber man……and Glentoran fan!! Glen Dugan set off today to Christchurch in New Zealand to take up a job with an engineering firm.
Dugie suffered a serious knee injury last season which prevented him playing most of last season and so far this season…but this allowed him to either watch rugby at Ards or his beloved Glentoran at the Oval…he won’t be able to do that this season unless we get his big mate Pete Croan to record all the action at Hamilton Park and stream it live to him!!
Hopefully all goes well for you Dugie; all at Ards wish you good luck!!
Match report – P6 v D’dee + Bangor (Sun 14th Oct)
P6 continue good form!!
A total of 12 players headed to Donaghadee for a Blitz day where we played one match apiece against Bangor and Donaghadee respectively.
The first match saw the Ards lads start with gusto and we were soon in the lead with 2 tries.
Not to be outdone Bangor fought back and scored a try but the Ards lads put another over the line ending the first half 3 – 1.
Ards kept strong and scored 3 more in quick succession leaving us in a commanding lead.
Bangor scored another leaving the match 6 – 2 in favour of Ards.
Tries scored by Connor Law (1), Chris Moore (1), Luke Graham (1), Louie Blackstock (1), Adam Matchett (1) and Joshua Cowan (1).
In the second match Ards dominated and we scored 4 tries in the first half and 3 tries in the second half.
No tries were conceded and the final score was 7 – 0 to Ards.
Tries scored by Louis (1), Adam (2), Jack Woods (1), Eddie Hawkins (2) and Connor Law (1).
Overall the lads took to the field with determination, not only can they be proud for winning but they can also be very proud for their individual and team performances.
They really got it together with the forwards winning ball and the backs moving it about the field.
We defended well when we had to, disrupted the opposition’s game and we attacked at every opportunity.
Training on Sunday this week at 2pm…see you all there, keep up the good work!!!!
1st XV match report v Dungannon Sat 13th Oct
