After a shaky mid section of the first half, Ophir Firsts, supported by MCW Properties, ran out comfortable winners against Armoy in the league stages of the Gordon West Cup last Saturday.
It started well for the Mallusk side, when with just 5 minutes gone, prop John-Joe Flood was held up over the line and from the 5 metre scrum, fullback Dee O’Reilly crashed through the defence to score mid way between the posts and the touchline. David Walker converted well. Then Armoy hit back. Using their giant and experienced forwards they gained good ground, won a crucial line out 5 metres from the Ophir line and sprayed the ball out to their wing who touched down without a hand laid on him. The Armoy out half converted comfortably. And 10 minutes later they were across the Ophir line again, this time the tight head prop barging through the despairing tackles. Unluckily the conversion attempt hit the post but the visitors led 12 – 7. On the half hour Ophir came back to life. Masterminding from the touchline, the Ophir coach, Ken Campbell, demanded the ball be kept away from the Armoy forwards and get a running game going. The plan worked. Before half time, scrum half Karl Davis had scored close to the posts and David Walker’s conversion put Ophir back in the lead. A Walker penalty plus another try and conversion from the same man saw Ophir 24 – 12 up at half time.
The second half was an absolute delight for the Ophir supporters.
Every time the Ophir backs got the ball they ran hard at the defence; the support play and close passing creating gaps which they exploited cheerfully. First to score was that man again, Karl Davis after a remarkable run from second row, Paddy McCabe. Then centre, Cillian Rooney and winger Steven Hastings both crossed the line and with David Walker’s excellent conversions, Ophir led 43 to 12. All credit to Armoy, they kept their heads up and in the 20th minute the left wing skipped through three tackles to score at the touchline. The conversion was missed but it heralded a storming onslaught by the Armoy pack. And twice they were denied further scores by the Ophir defence just about holding them up on the line. The pace of play couldn’t be sustained, and the last 10 minutes of the match was a struggle for either side to take command with knock ons and turnovers dominating play. But a highly satisfactory conclusion for Ophir, winning 43 – 17 at the final whistle.
