Friends School Lisburn and Omagh Academy played their replay of the 2nd round of the Northern Bank Medallion Shield under lights at Armagh Rugby Club.
This was the third match between these two schools in this round of the shield with the first fixture being 3 – 3 and the second 5 – 5.
Friends stared the match with controlled energy showing the experience they had gained over these last few matches and were soon one try ahead by Ryan Hall with the conversion just going wide of the uprights.
Omagh’s aggressive pack soon brought them back into the game with a well earned penalty in front of friends posts making the score 5 – 3.
Friends got on with the task in hand, their intention to move the scoreboard away from another draw situation and this resulted in another Ryan Hall try out wide but again the conversion just wide of the uprights.10 – 3
Omagh were not deterred by this Friends dominance of the try line and soon were awarded another penalty in front of the posts keeping themselves within a try to take the lead, score now 10 – 6.
The rest of the half was played out in the mid field with both sides giving nothing in defence although Friends tackling was with more force and certainly entertained the large crowd,they failed to recover the ball from the opposition on these occasions.
The second half saw an increase in pace if that was possible and Friends made a number of scoring opportunities but well defended by Omagh who were struggling to make inroads towards Friends line. As a result of the excellent defence both sides took a number of injuries which unset the pattern of plays but at no time did Friends look as if they were going to concede this game.
In the last two minutes of play Omagh won the ball and just picked and drove their way up the pitch, a tactic both Down High Schoopl and Sullivan Upper had used against Friends in previous friendlies and Friends had concentrated on defence, Omagh made little ground and in the last few seconds Friends defence forced Omagh to pass and kick, this was caught by Friends and kicked to touch ending this contest between the two schools. Final score 10 – 6
This was another very entertaining game between the two schools showing the commitment from all those involved. All games were played in the spirit of the competition and credit must go to the players in these situations, the pressure of the 3 games to get through and of the spectators all giving their advise on how to play.
Freinds now go on to play Belfast High School at Jordanstown in the third round of the Shield and Omagh have a home fixture against Lurgan College in the Trophy.
Thanks must go to Armagh Rugby Club who provided their excellent facilities for the neutral venue
