Ten Try Romp Sees Roesiders Book Cup Final Spot
Gordon West Cup Semi-Final
Limavady 66 Monaghan 19
66 points, ten tries. Sounds like an easy day at the office, but for 35mins this game hung in the balance as a dogged Monaghan side from Qualifying 4 gave as good as they got and continually frustrated the hot favourites.
But after two minutes of play a battle was the last thing the small crowd at The Hunter Grounds expected. With the first play of the game Johnny King thought he had given Limavady a dream start, but the touch judge had his flag up for a foot in touch. However the first try was long on coming as the home side stole the resulting lineout and out-half Luke Faulkner touched down under the posts. Greg Jordan added the conversion. By the 20th minute a huge score was on the cards as tries from Greg Jordan and Chrissy Hunter were converted and at 21-0 it was just a matter of how many more were to come. But on 30mins there visitors were quite literally thrown a lifeline, as the Monaghan outside centre intercepted a wayward Limavady pass and raced clear unopposed for a deserved try. Moments later we almost saw a repeat as the same Monaghan player broke through again, but much to the relief of the home support, the referre called play back for a knock on.
This appeared to be the kick up the backside the Roesiders required and in the last three minutes of the half put the game to bed. Quick fire tries from Clive Scott and Peter Wilson left the half time score Limavady 33 Monaghan 7.
So from almost being only seven points up, Limavady lead by twenty six and they didn’t take long extending this as Chrissy Hunter and Daniel Irvine crossed the white wash in the opening two minutes. But credit to the visitors who didn’t lie down and were rewarded with a second try on 50mins when their No. 8 powered over. But there was only going to be one winner and further tries from Jamie Miller, Stewart Roddy and a second for Clive Scott saw the North West Men advance to a final meeting with Larne on Saturday 18th April. Pearse McNicholl added all three conversions. It was the visitors who got the last score of the day when their left winger touched down in the corner.
FT Limavady 66 Monaghan 19
An at times scrappy, and at times brilliant display from the Roesiders, with many players staking claim for a place among the twenty spots that are available for Ravenhill, so plenty of thinking for Head Coach Paul O’Kane and his management team to do over the coming weeks.
Next week is the penultimate league game. Limavady travel to Newry with a 2.30pm.
There was to be no fairytale ending to the season for the Saracens as for the second year in succession, they fell at the semi-final stage of the McCambley Cup. A hugely experienced Ballymoney 4ths proved too strong and ran out convincing 41-0 winners.
One other fixture next week sees the forgotten team in the club the II XV, their last match was the 28th February, and they travel to Belfast to play Queens 3rds.
