Enniskillen recorded victory on Saturday, but had to do it the hard way, coming from twelve points down in as many minutes.
From the kick-off ‘Skins did show some enterprise taking play deep into the visitor’s half but were unable to come away with any points. The game was a fairly even contest but UUC set out their stall from the start, trying to get the ball wide quickly and this led directly to their opening score with barely ten minutes on the clock.
As if ‘Skins weren’t stunned enough the visitors’ second score followed a few minutes later. A speculative kick ricocheted off scrum half Ricky Connor and over the head of winger Chris Dickey. The touch from Connor caused a fraction of a seconds hesitation in the player’s mind and the speedy UUC left-winger took full advantage to get downward pressure on the ball first. The conversion slid wide and the visitors had a twelve point lead.
‘Skins reaction was immediate and the forwards started to exert some control of the ball. The scrums were dominant and the front row of Alan Ferguson, Ryan Cathcart and Gareth Beatty continued where they left off against Ards a fortnight earlier, punishing their opponents, and the backrow was immense with all three, Hazlit Brian, Gavin Parke and Jamie Johnston, ultimately having a big influence on the game. After twenty-five minutes a clever kick found space and some good ‘Skins pressure created a penalty which was taken quickly and two phases later Cathcart popped up to score between the sticks. James McIntyre converted and ‘Skins were right back in the game.
Like UUC earlier, it didn’t take Enniskillen long to score again and once again it was the result of some big running in the forwards and quick ball. Nigel Johnston was the man with the touchdown and despite both touch judges seemingly having given the conversion the referee ruled it out to keep the game tied at 12-all.
‘Skins backline, marshalled by skipper Alan Wilkinson, coped well with the pace of the visitors backs with Ally Duncan in particular having as good a game in an Enniskillen jersey as he’s ever had. (Perhaps the presence of his father as match day sponsor spurred him on!) There were one or two moments when a missed tackle might have let the visitors in, but this was were the backrow and full Mark O’Shea earned their crust, snuffing out any momentum gained.
Just on the stroke of halftime McIntyre did give ‘Skins the lead that they would not relinquish with a penalty.
The second half continued much as the first, with ‘Skins using the forwards cleverly to try and dominate the visitors, whilst UUC tried to get their speedy backs into play early. It was ‘Skins who managed to make the tactics work and with fifteen minutes gone added their third try. A scoring attempt was ruled as having been held up over the line, but from the five-metre scrum Duncan came off his wing to have a go but from the next phase Beatty managed to elude the first tackle and dive over for the try, which went unconverted to put ‘Skins 20 – 12 ahead.
O’Shea set up the next score after twenty-five minutes with a great kick and chase forcing the defenders into another mistake and McIntyre duly dispatched the penalty to extend the lead to eleven points. However, ‘Skins were then guilty of taking their eye off the game and allowed UUC to claw their way back with a try two minutes later in the corner having created an overlap and some space out wide, the first time they had managed to do so since the opening score.
The final score however went to ‘Skins with eight minutes remaining and it was another penalty conceded due to great pressure at the breakdown area which resulted in the UUC fullback being yellow carded and having to sit out the rest of the game.
‘Skins continued to press with the four try bonus point the carrot, but they were to be denied despite further penalties close to the visitors’ line.
All in all a performance that encapsulated the good and bad of Enniskillen’s season so far. Great resilience to come back from an early reversal, some great attacking rugby particularly through the forwards with the front and backrows dominating, ably assisted by rising star James Carleton and another impressive shift from Cathal McGarry and some sound defensive work. On the negative the opening was sloppy and gives both the players and coaching staff something to work on in training before travelling to Bangor this weekend for the second round Town’s Cup clash.
Cavan U-17 – 0 Enniskillen U-17 – 24
Despite a mounting injury list meaning two players playing their first games and four positional changes, Enniskillen’s under-17s continued their run of good form in their opening cup match at Cavan.
With the changes and new personnel ‘Skins had a shaky opening ten minutes with some learning as they went along but they soon got into their stride and it was the backbone of the side, the forwards, who started to exert pressure on the hosts, driving the ball well with the opening score not far away. A typical piece of driving play gave the backline the ball on the front foot and the outstanding Greg McGovern broke tackles before feeding James Taggart to score well in the corner.
‘Skins were on top and it was only some fussy refereeing decisions and silly mistakes that stopped Enniskillen from adding more points than they did, but they did add a second try before halftime. A great backline move saw McGovern hit a hole in the defence like an express train, and he burst clear to score, and add the conversion to make it 12 – 0.
The second half brought little change to the pattern of the game and whilst the ‘Skins forwards continued to dominate, the team were guilty of running laterally across the pitch too often, which was a pity as the backline did have the beating of their opponents when they were more direct.
Enniskillen managed to add two further tries to seal victory. First Alex Gormley crashed over from five-metres following a quick penalty, which was converted and then McGovern added his second try, again after some excellent moves in the backline. This time John Maguire was given the opportunity to convert from in front of the posts, but the least said about the attempt the better.
Given the “scratch” nature of the side it was a good performance. Two players were playing their first games, Farley and Kelly, whilst a third, Olly Kane, was making only his second appearance and all coped admirably. There were a few worth further mention notably Andy McCrae, who despite being ill before the game put in a real captain’s performance and Fergal Lynam who had a great game from scrum half and only needs to show more consistency to really demonstrate what he is capable of. However the man of the match has to go to Conor Flanagan who was first to almost very breakdown and consistently this season shows what a promising prospect he is.
The team travel to Newry this weekend, again in the cup group stages, and this should be a step up. Concerns have been voiced by the coaching staff about the absentees at training and urge everyone to make that extra effort as we enter the crunch part of the season. The cup and league play-offs are within the grasp of this talented side but no team wins anything without the time spent on the training field.
FIXTURES
1st XV – Away – Bangor – Towns Cup
2nd XV – Away – Coleraine
4th XV – Home – Malone – Butler Shield
Youth – Away – Newry
