Junior League. A reasonable performance that could have brought a lot more points but for a number of variables, not all of which were under the control of the blue and white players. The game was played in glorious sunshine at Cherryvale with a slight breeze on the backs of the CI team which brought them into the Dungannon 22 in the early exchanges although the home team lacked any real conviction in attack and Dungannon were able to clear their lines through Rory Patton. The first Dungannon foray into the opposition half was led by Jonny Smith and Mark Thompson and after a few phases the ball was shifted left through the hands of out half Richard Fletcher to the ever eager Andrew Holmes who ran into the corner on an outside break to open the scoring on 15 minutes. Richard Fletcher was unsuccessful with the conversion. 0-5. Dungannon went straight back on the offensive from the kick off through Stephen Donaghy but indiscipline saw them penalised at the breakdown and back chat saw the backward march continue and this allowed CI to take play into the Dungannon 22. A great steal at the lineout from skipper Irwin allowed Rory Patton to clear the lines once more. The next period of play was a mix of good work from the backs, especially the centre’s and an inability to secure the ball at the breakdown at the crucial moment.
CI were able to work their way back into the Dungannon half and from a 5m scrum and subsequent ruck, the CI scrum half sneaked in for an unconverted try on 26 minutes. 5-5. From the restart CI were penalised for holding on whilst trying to work their way out of their own half and back chat meant the penalty chance from 35m was duly dispatched by Richard Fletcher on 29 minutes. 5-8. Good work again from the Holmes/Smith combination, who were doing a lot of work outside of their remit, took play back into the CI half before Darran Lucas lost possession on the ground. Darran did however reassure the management that he would refrain from touching the ball in future until he is operating at full lung capacity. CI took play back into the Dungannon 22 and after a number of phases the CI no. 12 made a break for the line from 10m out, however a great tackle by David Irwin and excellent work from Rory Patton resulted in a penalty for holding on against the home side. The penalty was cleared and good play from David Irwin and Mark Thompson off a scrappy lineout led to another Dungannon penalty in front of the posts which Richard Fletcher duly dispatched on 39 minutes. 5-11. Dungannon had one more run at the CI line from the kick off and good interplay between Chris Blair and John Toal nearly resulted in another try on the narrow side. The early exchanges of the second half saw Dungannon on the offensive almost immediately only to give away a penalty for holding on. CI were next to be penalised in the form a yellow card for their no. 8 with repeated dissent towards the referee and the final straw came in the form of a fairly unrepeatable comment. A quick tap from Andrew Holmes and turn of pace sent him through the home defence however he was tackled 10m out but good work to recycle the ball and patient hands from Rory Patton allowed the ball to be worked to the poacher on the left wing, Philip Hall to score on 49 minutes. The conversion attempt was missed. 5-16. CI attacked from the kick off and despite being a man down, some disjointed Dungannon play allow the CI full back to fashion a score for his outside centre after a chip over the top which he fielded and off-loaded due to the presence of Chris Blair. The conversion was good on 56 minutes. 12-16. A poor chase from the kick off by the Dungannon forward pack should have meant CI went straight back on the offensive but a poor pass allowed the new shoe leather of Andrew Holmes to pounce with a neat grubber kick however he was narrowly beaten to the touchdown. From the 22 drop out a strong run from Chris Blair took play into the CI half and a good passage of ball retention saw CI infringe in front of the posts with a high tackle on Richard Fletcher, who was causing problems with his hard running on the gainline. The same player was successful with the penalty on 61 minutes. 12-19. Dungannon shipped it wide from the restart and in working the overlap saw Philip Hall make 40m down the left hand touchline. Dungannon recycled the ball well and it was moved to Andrew Holmes in the middle of the park who chipped over the defence and gathered to score on 62 minutes. Richard Fletcher converted. 12-26. CI had a good period of pressure inside the Dungannon 22 and a chip over the top from their winger should have led to a try. The winger ran into Chris Blair who was adjudged to have impeded the progress of the opposition player however in standing his ground Chris had actually done nothing wrong and was harshly sent to the bin. However the referee, who had played little in the way of advantage throughout the game, blew his whistle immediately to penalise Chris and in doing so he denied CI a try as their full back had followed up on the ball and scored. From the resulting penalty CI tried to move the ball quickly wide but the ball went to ground and John Toal was able to hack the ball to safety and not content with clearing the danger John chased through and gathered the ball and a strong run took him to the half way line where he off-loaded to the supporting Andrew Holmes who sauntered in to complete his hat-trick. Richard Fletcher added the simple extras. 12-33. A fourteen point turnaround for CI who will feel they should have been within 7 points and a shout with 13 minutes to go. The game rather petered out after this with Dungannon playing too much rugby in their own half but there was one more piece of action from the strong running Toal. In fielding a CI cross field kick, John was left with a lot of space and only a few defenders to beat. He beat all but the last man but was able to off-load to the rampaging Stephen Donaghy who made the conversion simpler by jogging in under the posts. Richard Fletcher added the extras and the referee blew the final whistle. 12-40. A happy Gareth McMullan praised the workrate of his two centres and also Richard Fletcher who was making his first senior appearance for the club. He did express concern with the consistency of the workrate of the forwards. Perhaps some extracurricular activity would benefit the team going forward as they have the ability to take this league by the scruff of the neck by being able to perform for a full 80 minutes.
Team: Chris Blair, Philip Hall, Jonny Smith, Andrew Holmes, John Toal, Richard Fletcher, Rory Patton; Darran Lucas, Neil McGinley, Kyle Thompson, Robin McCleary, Stephen Donaghy, Mark Thompson, David Irwin, Peter Smith.
Referee: Vincent Hughes.
Tries: Andrew Holmes (3), Stephen Donaghy & Philip Hall.
Conversions: Richard Fletcher (3)
Penalties: Richard Fletcher (3)
