Service slay the Dragon of Dee
On a warm September Saturday, captain Paul Culbert marched his band of merry men eastward. Guided in by the town’s famous lighthouse, Service found themselves at a familiar battle scene, albeit one without happy memories. Twice in 2014 the men from Stormont suffered heavily at the hands of the days opponents, most recently in a squad friendly just a few weeks ago.
The first eyebrow raise of the day came during the warm-up at the sheer size of the opponents.
Expecting to face a Minor League rugby team, it seemed we were instead up against Sauron’s army of Orcs. For those of you unfamiliar with Lord of the Rings analogies, imagine, if you can, the love child of King Kong raised on a diet of slain unicorns and nuclear waste.
Undeterred however, service had a determined warm-up & steamed out of the changing room like a herd of riled up rhinos.
As expected, Dee came at Service like a raging bull. Like a veritable Thirst Pocket however, Service soaked up the early pressure. In one such instance, and with utter disregard for his own body, Ciaran O’Reilly reached martyrdom in his repelling of a thundering attack. While our tryline remained un-breached, the same unfortunately couldn’t be same for Ciaran’s collarbone which ended up in worse shape than Stevey Powell on a Saturday night. Ciaran was last seen in the back of an ambulance, and naturally our best wishes go his way. Listen hard enough and you’ll hear a collective sigh of relief from teams around the league at the thought of not having to face him for a few weeks. Into the breach then stepped Alaister Beacom, who had quite literally just got out of his car. The backline continued as before, felling mammoth attackers with ruthless precision, winger David Lewis, fullbackEmmet McKimm and many others offering no quarter………. for the full report >> http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/civilservicenirfc/s/match-centre-76507/0-2638933
Team:
1. Trevor McDowell 2. Iain Thomas 3. Scott Harper 4. Paul Culbert (c) 5. Craig Algie 6. Stuart Moody 7. Jonny Crabbe 8. Niall Donnelly 9. Andrew Johnston
10. George Brown 11. David Lewis 12. les magowan 13. Ciaran O’Reilly 14. Matt Thompson 15. Emmet McKimm 16. Simon Toland 17. Alastair Beacom
18. Conor Kerr
Service edged into second place at a blistering hot Monaghan.
On a warm September Saturday the Service players converged on the Monaghan playing fields determined that nothing would keep them out and that they would break through any defences. Unfortunately a small chain and combination padlock had other ideas and so they were delayed somewhat before preparations for the first league encounter could begin.
With 4 players making their debuts it was perhaps a little inevitable that there would be a few issues as the new players bedded in but Connor, Gareth, Geoff and Owen acquitted themselves well throughout the match and indeed the last 3 of those, along with pack leader Ben Morgan started in the lineouts particularly well as they not only retained their own ball, but spoilt a lot of the oppositions’. Unfortunately though, as seems to keep happening, Civil were just a bit sluggish for the first half, a few weak tackles, half assed kick chases and poor decisions showed and in fairness the visitors were somewhat fortunate to go in at half time at 3 – 3 as a late Peter Hoskins penalty levelled the scores……. for the full story follow > http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/civilservicenirfc/news/monaghan-advantage-in-league-opener-1291172.html
