City of Derry U19’s were drawn against the combined Armagh/Monaghan side in the quarter final stages of the U19 Plate and on a day better suited to snowboarding they travelled down to the City of Armagh and came away disappointed, losing 8 points to 19!
Before the kick off the referee expressed serious concerns about the state of the pitch, concerns which were to prove substantiated! After some discussion with another referee it was decided that the game could go ahead. The Derry team received the kick off and it was clear that this was going to be no spectacle of rugby, the underfoot conditions made sure that there was going to be no open running rugby. The Derry team kicked through behind the opposition and good pressure led to the hosts giving away a penalty which outhalf Richard Keys stepped up and stroked over to give the visitors an early lead, 3 -0.
Shortly after the restart the home sides No6 was caught stamping and was duly sent to the bin for 7 mins. it was the home side who started to put on a lot of pressure through their big forwards and strong running centres and on the stroke of 8 mins there fullback broke through some weak tackling to score close in to the posts, the kick was good and they were ahead by 7 points to 3. The home side were restored to full strength and the both sides took to slogging it out in the mud for the rest of the half, the smaller Derry pack were more than a match for their opponents in the scrum putting them under a lot of pressure and the lineouts were a lottery in the difficult conditions. The home side had a set of big centres who were setting targets for their forwards who were holding the upper hand in the mauls. Nearing the end of the half Derry winger Ronnie McElwee injured an ankle when he turned it in the mud, the second injury due to the pitch, wing forward Craig Henderson twisted an ankle in the warm up! The half ended with no further scores from either side and it was clear it was going to be a close affair.
After consultation at half time the referee said he was continuing with the game and Derry got off to the worst possible start. After 11mins of the half the home side strung together a few passes and good mauling inside the 22 led to their scrum half crashing over the line, this was again converted. From the restart the visitors made life difficult for themselves by not clearing their lines and the home side turned over possession about 5m from the Derry line and poor defending allowed them to drive over for another score, their scrum half again getting the touchdown, the kick was missed. With only 14mins of the half gone the Derry team were 19 points to 3 behind it would have been easy for this tem to lie down but back they came at the hosts and made like difficult for them. The Derry lads upped the intensity and the scrums and lineouts were providing plenty of good ball but handling in the conditions was not easy and too many chances went a begging. Due to the pressure the hosts were conceding a lot of penalties and on one such occasion inside the home 22 a penalty was exchanged for a scrum and when the ball was moved blind to fullback Jamie Devine he cut back towards the line where he was driven over by the pack and the try was awarded. The difficult conversion missed narrowly and the game was now 19 – 8 points in favour of the hosts. Valiant winger McElwee had to leave the field and young Colm Creggan ,the U17’s hooker took up position out wide on the right where he did well. With time running out the game was played down in the Armagh/Monaghan territory but the visitors could not find a way through for anymore scores. The final whistle went and the home side had won 19 points to 8, on the day the home side played the conditions better and their bigger side suited the type of game it was destined to be. The Derry team can hold their heads up well and know that they competed well in awful conditions, it is unlikely these boys will have to play in such conditions again! Again this week we had to call on the services of 3 of the U17’s players, flanker Aaron Deery and Steven Graydon on the wing played the entire game and will only learn from the experience, Colm Creggan came on when required and although playing out of position showed up well, it bodes well for the future that these players played well above their years! The team as a whole played well, the team was well led by skipper Ryan Spratt and the front five had a good day in the tight performing well in the set pieces and the back row played well getting about the pitch, in the backs the half backs worked hard all day and the centres had their fill of work to do as well, fullback Jamie Devine played well and returned a lot of ball and was ably supported by his wingers. It was a very hard decision on who to get the Man of the Match award but after a lot of deliberation it goes to No8 Cillian Doherty, once again he showed what an immense talent he is with a lot of powerful runs off the back of scrums and rucks and his tackle count was enormous.
