In the return fixture in the league Derry U19’s travelled with a full squad plus sub to hosts Donegal Town. On arrival the Derry coach was informed that the home team had only 13 players so he had to match them, there was no Branch referee so the Donegal Youth Convenor was refereeing the game and the pitch was almost un playable due to the amount of rain that had fallen overnight!
After a warm up in the hail stones the game got underway with three Derry players having to sit it out on the side lines. It was very clear from the outset what the game plan of the home side was, keep the ball in the their very large forwards and hammer it up the middle. The Derry side as anyone who has watched them will know, like to play a bit of football but this was going to be a real test of their resolve in these conditions if they were to get the right result! The home side had chosen to play with the slope and the wind and used it to good advantage with their big pack driving hard at the visitors and their half backs kicking in behind to try and pin the Derry side in their own half. Young Steven Graydon who answered the call from the U17’s coped very well with every ball kicked to him and returned it with pace straight back at the home side where the forwards took over and worked hard against the elements and the physically bigger pack. The City forwards were well on top of their opponents in the scrum and line out despite the size difference and were getting to the breakdown quicker and securing possession well. After 16mins of play good pressure from the Derry team led to the referee awarding a penalty to the visitors, unfortunately this was missed in to the wind but it lifted the spirits of the team and they upped their game after this. With some new belief they started to take the game to the home side and it was not long before another penalty was won but again missed in the difficult conditions. With the half drawing to a close a good break up the blind from a scrum by Johnny Kennedy brought play in to the home sides 22, after a few pick and drives the ball was secured and popped to the on rushing James McIvor to crash over for a good forwards try, the difficult kick was missed. The missed conversion was to be the last play of the half. At half time the team did not need any motivation as all was against them in the first half and with the foothold on the game set they were encouraged to go after and win this game!
Kicking off with the wind at their back the Derry forwards poured down on the home defence, their big second row fielded well but was not ready for the powerhouse Cillian Doherty bearing down on him! The Donegal player was smashed to the ground and the ball was turned over, only good defence from the home side held out the initial onslaught! It was not long however before the Derry men got hold of the ball again and that man Johnny Kennedy had a typical darting run at the line to hit the post with the ball but the ref would not allow the score and called for the 5m scrum. A huge push from the scrum put the home eight on their heels and No8 Cillian Doherty picked up and broke to crash through two defenders to score under the posts, this time the kick was successful and Derry were now 12 points in front. In the build up to this score Kennedy picked up a bang to the head and had to leave the field but this not disrupt things much as David Devine slotted in seamlessly and Brian Cooper came on to the wing. It was not long before the Derry team were back in to their stride and actually moving the ball well despite the conditions, from one such break a kick over the defence was scrambled in to touch by a home defender and quick thinking by Devine led to another score. Devine retrieved the ball quickly and threw a fully 20m pass in to the charging captain Ryan Spratt who crashed through and scored under the posts, the kick was again good. The purple patch for Derry continued and the tiring home side were beginning to wonder how many Derry men were on the field! Fullback Graydon had to leave the field with a leg injury to be replaced by Ronnie McElwee with Cooper moving to the fullback position. Once more good Derry pressure and possession took then in to the home 22 and after the forwards had sucked in all the defenders the ball was moved wide for centre Knox to get over out wide, the kick was missed. All this had taken place in the first 20mins of the second half and the home side had hardly touched the ball, this showed that the fitness levels have improved and the game awareness is improving with each outing! With the game now in their grasp the Derry team were trying harder to move the ball and run the opposition about but the final pass was going astray and meant they were having to build phases again to get field position. With about 25 mins gone the Donegal team secured possession from a rather dubious penalty and made ground inside the Derry 22, this gave the big home forwards a bit of heart and they started to knock on the door of the Derry try line! The Derry teams resolve to not let them in shone through and wave after wave of attack was repelled, to a man not a tackle was missed or a foot of ground given! A few more questionable decisions were given against the visitors but the defence held firm and with every tackle the Donegal team were forced back and they had just no way through a defiant Derry defence. Just as the coach was trying to bring on the last pair of fresh legs for the Derry team the referee decided to call an end to proceedings and so the final score was left at 24 to nil in favour of the Derry team.
This was a great learning curve for the Derry team in that they had to learn to adapt to difficult conditions and change one style of play for another, this they did admirably with a few instructions from the coach! It was never going to be a backs day as can be seen from the scores, only one coming from the back division and the other three through the workhorses of the pack. The backs played their part however in their efforts in defence where to a man they hit anything that came their way and turned over a lot of ball, it was the forwards who stole the show on the day! Young Andrew Robinson from the U17’s showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with and the tight five showed that technique and fitness are as important as size in winning the tight encounters. The Derry set piece was solid all day and this was a few regulars missing and people playing out of position, with the back row reduced to 2 it left a lot of work for the loose forwards to get through but this was not a trouble for the workman like Robinson and his partner, the colossus that was Cillian Doherty! This was a game for big men and Derry’s Cillian Doherty showed just what a big man with a big heart can do, he hit anything and everything that moved and was rightly rewarded with his try at the start of the second half, for this reason Man of the Match by a country mile was Doherty! This was this young teams first encounter with the “art of coarse rugby” and I think they loved it!
