Enniskillen Ladies 1st XV – 17
Garda Ladies 1st XV – 15
A close fought game between Enniskillen Ladies and the Garda Ladies ended with Skins coming out on top with a 17-15 win. The game was set to be a physical match with Skins having suffered a disappointing loss to the Garda side in the league last year. With this in mind the Skins girls were not ready to let a repeat of last year happen again. With the men’s teams all playing away games the ladies took centre stage on the 1st pitch at Mullaghmeen on a fine day for rugby.
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The game began with Skins girls kicking off and making a heavy pressure on the opposition. The Garda side boasting a strong team but the Skins pack put them under pressure with several great scrums. Skins took a moment of lapse in defence which the Garda ladies utilised sending the ball out to the wing and scoring a try on the far wing. With a chase up to the kicker the conversion was missed and skins girls were ready to turn the tables back on the travelling opposition. From the restart skins put great pressure on the Garda and with some great forward runs from Leona Hallet and Wendy Rogers the ball was set up cleanly for the Skins 10 Etna Flannagan to breeze through the opposition scoring a try right under the posts with a clean conversion from Aisling Maguire.
Another lapse in Skins concentration saw the Garda ladies gain another try across the line. As half time approached the Skins girls were determined to regain their lead and knew that play would have to be stepped up to maintain a win for their efforts. From the restart the Garda placed their kick straight into the arms of Clare Brogan who powered through almost their whole pack, driving the Skins ball straight into the oppositions half. An injury then occurred to Skins second row Helen Carleton who unfortunately had to leave the pitch meaning a change up in positions between both the backs and forwards, with some new players being thrown into the deep end on the pitch.
Skins girls only gained more heart and powered through this change up with Etna Flannagan scoring another try successfully under the posts but unfortunately the conversion was missed. A great boost for the girls they were determined to keep heavy pressure on the built Garda team and the opposition felt the pressure now and another great few phases of play from all fifteen players gave Paula Cadden the opportunity to gain her first try for skins on the wing. The Skins girls kept a tight defence for the last half of the game but with another injury to the team and more changes the Skins girls took longer to adjust their defence with the Garda ladies gaining another try. This meant that Skins only held a two point lead and with five minutes to go they weren’t going to lose that lead. The last five minutes saw some great defence from all 15 skins players who held up an attempted Garda try on the line. With a quarter of a minute to go the Garda gained a scrum on the skins 5 which was impressively turned over by the power of the Skins pack with captain and scrum half Noreen Nethercott taking the opportunity to kick the ball out of play securing a Skins win. Best wishes to Helen and hope her injury recovers soon.
Ladies next match is away to Harlequins Sunday 4th November. Training continues Tuesday & Friday at 6:30pm at Mullaghmeen. Enniskillen Ladies are always looking for new recruits, so if you’re interested in giving rugby a go, contact Noreen on 07853008860
by Shauna Hall
