Dungannon 1XV 26 – 0 Instonians
Ulster League
An entertaining game at Stevenson Park, Dungannon played some good rugby but the score line does not do Instonians justice. They played a full part in the entertainment always keen to run the ball and testing Dungannon’s defence to the full. Dungannon started with a bang. In the second minute Sean Conway made a great break, his off load was picked up off his toes by Mark Faloon who slipped the ball to Mark O’Shea; with a sprint and a dive he was over for the try. Shortly after another Conway break was carried into the Inst half by Paul Magee. Inst infringed and Jake Finlay converted the resultant penalty on thirteen minutes. Gannon went on the attack from the restart kick and from out of nowhere David Egner got possession; stepped inside, broke away from two tackles and with a flurry of lime green boots streaked over between the posts for a memorable try. Jake Finlay converted on fifteen minutes. Paul Jackson then provided some entertainment. Showing great football skill he ‘killed’ an Inst touch kick that fell short. He then slipped the ball past an onrushing defender before gathering the ball. Tackled five metres short his flip pass went to an Instonian who was forced to concede a five metre scrum. Unfortunate Dungannon missed their opportunity to score and Inst cleared the danger. Inst came into the game with a purpose; with Smith, Kilpatrick and Fegan putting in some dangerous runs. Dungannon broke away again and Jake Finlay put over two excellent penalties in the thirty-fourth and fortieth minutes.
Gannon started the second half on the attack and five minutes in man of the match Timothy Smith broke from a lineout and raced in from twenty-five metres. Inst put on pressure but the Dungannon defence held. We were then treated to two pieces of quality rugby when Glen Telford made space and sent Paul Magee away. Although neither move produced a try they showed that awareness of space and the timing of a pass can cause havoc in any defence. Although there were no further scores Inst tested the Dungannon defence on several occasions. A good game and good performance from both teams.
Team: Mark O’Shea. Darren Simpson, Mark Faloon, Paul Magee, David Egner. Jaryd Bennett, Jake Finlay. Charlie Sargaison, Paul Jackson, Mark Farquhar. Paul McCarroll, Mark Jenkinson (capt). Michael Dunleavy, Gary Maxwell, Tim Smith. Ben Howard, Seven Sinnamon, Steven Rodgers, Glen Telford, Peter Cashel. Referee: Richard Kerr (Cookstown)
II XV 20 v Instonians RFC II XV 0
Dungannon IIs who were beaten by a single point in the away game made amends at Stevenson Park when they beat their Instonian counterparts 20-3. The home pack was dominant on this occasion accounting for all four tries. Alas, Dungannon were off form at the tee with all strikes failing. Dungannon looked the better side throughout and on ten minutes Jonny Toal acted as provider for Andrew Caddoo to score. Minutes later Instonians hit back with a penalty and a rather entertaining half ended 5-3. The lead was stretched top 10-3 when Plunkett McCallan finished off a super lineout drive on fifty minutes. No 8, Stuart McKenzie, making a welcome return after four months on the sideline, then added a third after controlling the ball well at scrum time. Undeterred, Inst continued to compete but despite the promptings of fullback, Adam McCarthy could not find a gap in the home defence. Ten minutes from time the issue was sealed when Sean O’Hagan forced his way over to complete the scoring.
Team: Peter Cashel. Jonny Toal, Jordan Patterson, Steven Rodgers, Jonathan Mills. Ben Kennedy, Richard Wright (Capt). Owen Mallon, Daniel Maxwell, Glen Sinnamon. Plunkett McCallan, Richard Holmes. Sean O’Hagan, Andrew Caddoo, Stuart McKenzie . Referee: Terry McCartney (Enniskillen)
Omagh 2 28 – 13 Dungannon 3XV 12 Jan 2013
Dungannon were always under pressure from a big Omagh pack and whilest they were able to hold their own the loss of a player through injury and an unfortunate yellow card proved too much to overcome allowing Omagh to run out 28-13 winners. Dungannon opened the scoring after ten minutes when Gareth McMullan converted a penalty. Omagh then took the lead through a penalty and a try. Dungannon lost Gareth McMullan with a knee injury. With Omagh on the attack an intercept in his own twenty-two by John O’Neill saw him run eighty yards to score in inspirational try for Dungannon. Omagh scored a second try to regain the lead but Dungannon’s Peter Sandford got the opportunity to level the score. Rolling back the years Peter got his foot to a loose ball and two or three hacks later won the race for the touchdown. Dungannon were battling well against a big well drilled Omagh pack but the loss of a player for an alleged deliberate knock on gave Omagh a numerical advantage of two. During the next ten minutes they made this advantage count running in two unconverted tries. Omagh topped off the win with a try at the end making the score 28 – 13. Dungannon would have been more competitive with a full fifteen but Omagh had an impressive eight who played to their strengths deservedly winning them the points.
Team: Cormac Convery. Gareth McMullan, John O’Neill, Peter Sandford, Mark McFarland. Edward Laverty, Ross Devlin. Zack Farrell, Jaryd Miller, Aidan Hanna. Stephen Donaghy, Gordon Stewart. Fergal Mallon, Tony O’Hagan, Jeremy Baird. Referee: Clem Bassett
