City of Derry Ladies made the long trip to Ballincollig, Co Cork at the weekend and won 39-5 in the All Ireland Plate quarter-final.
On a calm, dry Munster day, it didn’t take the Derry girls long to find their form and on 4 minutes Mandisa Williams made a good break following a scrum on the half way line and passed to supporting winger Ciara McGurk who sprinted in to open the scoring.
Derry continued to pressurise and, following numerous phases of play involving backs and forwards, scrum half Fundi Plaatjie handed off the ‘Collig winger to score the first of her 2 tries.
3 Minutes later Derry increased the lead when, following good interplay between backs and forwards, Naomi Lander outpaced the home defence to score from the half-way line.
Ballincollig mounted an attack from the restart which was stopped inside the Derry ‘22’. Prop Kylie Boyle ripped the ball free from the maul and after a good passing movement, Di Nixon fed Mandisa Williams who scored a try converted by Rachel Lennox.
Just before half-time the home team scored a try following a penalty when Derry were adjudged to have infringed at a ruck.
The impressive Williams was on the score sheet again immediately before half-time to increase the gap to 27 points to 5 at the interval.
The home side did not give up, however, and made the Derry girls defend for the opening period of the second half. Fundi Plaatjie got her second try when she took the ball from the back of a maul and showed her pace to sprint 50 metres to score under the posts. Full back Rachel Lennox added the extras.
Derry completed the scoring when No 8 Di Nixon picked up from a scrum on the 22 and drove at the heart of the defence. Supporting wing forward and Irish International Stacey Lea Kennedy took the ball and was stopped inches short of the line by some desperate defence. From the ensuing ruck, the ball was spun across the backs for Natasha Milligan to score in the corner to leave the final score 39-5.
On the day, Kennedy and Nixon were exceptional especially in defence where they stubbed out any ‘Collig attacks and their combined tackle count was immense.
Hooker Kelly Gormley had her best game for Derry and has slotted easily into the no 2 shirt.
The reward for the victory and the commitment for the travelling Derry girls is a home semi-final against Division 1 side Old Belvedere this Sunday at Judges Road. Kick off has been scheduled for 1 pm but supporters are advised to check the web-site for confirmation.
