Ballynahinch 31 – 13 Dungannon 1XV
On a breezy cold night at Ballymacarn Park 21 points from winger Chris Quinn helped Ballynahinch to victory in the Friday Night Lights Ulster Bank League fixture. Playing into the wind Quinn opened the scoring for Hinch after 5 minutes with a well struck penalty. 3-0. Dungannon hit straight back on their first visit to the opposition half with a penalty from the scrum converted by John McGuckin on 9 minutes. 3-3. Hinch, who were playing into the breeze began to control possession and slowly made their way into the Dungannon half forcing the visitors to infringe allowing Quinn another shot at 3 points which he duly took on 17 minutes. 6-3. Hinch made a mess of the restart and were penalised for offside allowing McGuckin to level the scores almost immediately. 6-6. Dungannon then enjoyed their best period both in attack and defence forcing errors from the home side with John McGuckin controlling proceedings. They were rewarded for their efforts when Steven Sinnamon picked up a loose ball from the ruck and fed Peter Nelson who put in a neat grubber behind the defence and won the race for the touchdown under the posts. McGuckin added the extras on 24 minutes. 6-13. Dungannon enjoyed more territorial advantage for the remainder of the half but the breeze made it difficult to retain lineout possession and Dungannon were unable to add any further scores before half time leaving a slender lead to play into the wind.
The second half brought the wind advantage to the home side and they went on the offensive immediately capitalising on a poor scrum from the visitors. McIlroy moved the ball quickly to Stuart Morrow who made it over the line. Quinn converted to draw level on 42 minutes. 13-13. McGuckin had the chance to restore the Dungannon lead but the penalty came up just short. Quinn was more fortunate with his next attempt to give HInch the lead after 52 minutes with a long range penalty. 16-13. Dungannon then lost Stuart McCloskey to the bin for failing to roll away and Quinn was again successful from the half way line. 19-13. Hinch took advantage of the extra man and their ball carriers started to make in roads into the visitors defence and they eventually were stretched to breaking when Quinn broke the line and sprinted around the cover to score in the corner. His exerts caused him to miss the conversion however. 24-13 on 62 minutes. There was a long stoppage for an injury to former Dungannon player Micheal Lawton who had to be helped from the field. Hinch continued to occupy the Dungannon half with the visitors struggling to make head way against the home side that were now brimming with confidence. Although with the return of McCloskey Dungannon did manage to play their way back into the game and an infringement from Paul Pritchard resulted in his exit from the game for a 10 minute rest. Dungannon took play into the Hinch 22 and with good carries from Timmy Smith and Ali Birch they were unfortunate not to get across the line. A rolling maul was held up and possession and the chance of a bonus point were lost. Hinch used the wind to clear their lines and gain 80m as the clock ran down. Dungannon then lost captain Derek Hall to the sin bin and from the resultant play, a quick tap, James Simpson touched down under the posts to leave Quinn the easy extras to complete his haul for the night and leave the final score 31-13.
Dungannon: Peter Nelson, Mark Faloon, Stuart McCloskey, Paul Magee, Mark O’Shea, John McGuckin, Sean Conway, Timmy Smith, Ali Birch, Derek Hall, Michael Dunleavy, Plunket McCallan, Glen Sinnamon, Phil Whyte, Steven Sinnamon. Paul Jackson, Mark Farquhar, Paul McCarroll, Jaryd Bennett, Peter Cashel.
Enniskillen 17 – 5 Dungannon 2XV
This Millar McCall Wylie Junior Cup quarter final at Mullaghmeen was a scrappy affair in every sense of the word. Playing with the advantage of the slope and a slight breeze Enniskillen built up a nine point lead courtesy of a steady stream of penalties and although Dungannon came into the game in the third quarter they never dominated possession sufficiently to pose a serious threat to Skins lead. Playing with the sun on their backs as well as the slight breeze Enniskillen’s fullback Chris McVitty put Gannon on notice of his threat after five minutes when his penalty from the ten metre line rebounded off the crossbar. He had three successful strikes on ten, fifteen and thirty-five minutes to put Enniskillen into a 9 – 0 lead. Enniskillen’s lineout was secure but Gannon shaded the scrums although they could not get any momentum in the loose due to the ability of the host club players to deny Gannon possession at the breakdown. Hopefully Dungannon will learn from this and keep players on the correct side of rucks. Enniskillen used the elements to advantage whilst Gannon spent much of the half under pressure from their opponents.
The second half improved after Jaryd Bennett kicked a penalty to the corner Dungannon made the field position count. When the ball was eventually spun wide the excellent Peter Cashel made the line for the try. 9 -5. Gannon pressed but were penalised again when they drove Skins back at scrum time. With their lines cleared Enniskillen made their way to the Dungannon twenty-two where scrum half Connor did some good spoiling and chasing before Ally Duncan dived over to put Skins 14 – 5 ahead after seventy minutes. Dungannon tried to create a scoring chance but Enniskillen’s spoiling ability prevailed and when Chris McVitty struck his fourth penalty on seventy eight minutes the game ended as a contest. A frustrating and messy game from a Dungannon view but Enniskillen deserved their win playing to their strengths and taking advantage of their opportunities.
Team: Ben Kennedy. Peter Cashel, Jordan Patterson, Richard Fletcher, Jonny Toal. Jaryd Bennett, Richard Wright. Charlie Sargaison (Liam Currie), Simon Potter, Mark Farquhar. Richard Holmes (Capt), Paul McCarroll. Andrew Caddoo (Stuart Barron), Jeremy Turkington, Gary Maxwell.
Dungannon 4XV 48 – 18 Ballymoney 3
This Millar McCall Wylie Junior Cup quarter final at Mullaghmeen was a scrappy affair in every sense of the word. Playing with the advantage of the slope and a slight breeze Enniskillen built up a nine point lead courtesy of a steady stream of penalties and although Dungannon came into the game in the third quarter they never dominated possession sufficiently to pose a serious threat to Skins lead. Playing with the sun on their backs as well as the slight breeze Enniskillen’s fullback Chris McVitty put Gannon on notice of his threat after five minutes when his penalty from the ten metre line rebounded off the crossbar. He had three successful strikes on ten, fifteen and thirty-five minutes to put Enniskillen into a 9 – 0 lead. Enniskillen’s lineout was secure but Gannon shaded the scrums although they could not get any momentum in the loose due to the ability of the host club players to deny Gannon possession at the breakdown. Hopefully Dungannon will learn from this and keep players on the correct side of rucks. Enniskillen used the elements to advantage whilst Gannon spent much of the half under pressure from their opponents.
The second half improved after Jaryd Bennett kicked a penalty to the corner Dungannon made the field position count. When the ball was eventually spun wide the excellent Peter Cashel made the line for the try. 9 -5. Gannon pressed but were penalised again when they drove Skins back at scrum time. With their lines cleared Enniskillen made their way to the Dungannon twenty-two where scrum half Connor did some good spoiling and chasing before Ally Duncan dived over to put Skins 14 – 5 ahead after seventy minutes. Dungannon tried to create a scoring chance but Enniskillen’s spoiling ability prevailed and when Chris McVitty struck his fourth penalty on seventy eight minutes the game ended as a contest. A frustrating and messy game from a Dungannon view but Enniskillen deserved their win playing to their strengths and taking advantage of their opportunities.
Team: Ben Kennedy. Peter Cashel, Jordan Patterson, Richard Fletcher, Jonny Toal. Jaryd Bennett, Richard Wright. Charlie Sargaison (Liam Currie), Simon Potter, Mark Farquhar. Richard Holmes (Capt), Paul McCarroll. Andrew Caddoo (Stuart Barron), Jeremy Turkington, Gary Maxwell.
Dungannon 3XV 7 – 55 CIYMS 2
Dungannon IIIs tasted a heavy defeat when they clashed with a very talented and lively CIYMS team at Stevenson Park. The verytalented scored five tries in the opening half hour with Duncan Gleadhills, Dan McVicker, Neil Wallace, Aaron Russell and Andrew Frazer all touching down to send the Belfast boys 27 points clear. Dungannon then broke their ‘duck’ with a superb try when Jonny Hagan broke down the left flank and his scissor movement with Cormac Convery saw the latter race clear to the posts. Timmy Potter popped over the conversion to make it 7-27 at the break. Hopes of a Dungannon revival faded quickly in the second half when further tries from Frazer, McVicker and Andrew Hudson brought the final score to 7-55.
Team: Alan Cummings. Cormac Convery, John O’Neill, Steven Liggett, John Condy, Johnny Hagan, Timmy Potter, Adam Lockhart, Steven Rea, Zack Farrell. Hamish McKibben, Adam Booth. Declan Treanor, Kirby Hamilton, Steven Rogers.
