Inishowen welcomed Tir Choniall to Carn on Saturday knowing that the men from the west may still be in their first season of competitive rugby and still looking for their first league win but are not a team to be taken lightly. The two teams have now met on at least 4 occasions and every game has shown a vast improvement in the standard of rugby, it is obvious from reading match reports that its only a matter of time before the results start to match the performances. Inishowen were flying high after a good result the week previous and knew this match could be a potential banana skin if their opponents weren’t given the respect they deserved. With both teams wearing similar colours the referee asked Inishowen to wear a change strip, the match was delayed for 5 minutes as John Merritt headed back in time to collect the retro yellow and black kit Inishowen love to wear. Technological advances in man made materials in recent years have dragged rugby jerseys into the present day and terms such as moisture wicking and breathability are now the norm, unfortunately for Inishowen the only material available when the infamous “BEE” jersey were made was sponge and after 80 mins the jersey weigh 4 stone each.
Inishowen won the toss and chose to play with their backs to the bright midday sun and received the ball from the kick off with Mattie “sticky fingers” McCrossan once again catching the ball. It has been a regular sight this season to see the opposition number 10 choose to aim their kick offs and restarts at McCrossan, maybe the silver and white threads hint towards a man whose eye sight is not what it once was but Mattie has not shirked his responsibility and is cool under the high ball when called upon. With ball in hand Inishowen tried to settle into the game by setting up phases but Tir Choniall had other ideas and threw everything including the kitchen sink into every ruck causing slow ball for number 9 Seamus Hickey, with the sheer numbers Tir Choniall were throwing into the rucks it was only a matter of time before the Inish number 10 Mark Glasha would see gaps out wide. The chances came and good ground was made with Cassidy, Mulkearns and Mo Harkin all looking dangerous in attack, only for solid defence and a couple of stray passes Inishowen could have had a couple of early scores. Handling errors on both side gave Inishowen the chance to test Tir Choniall in the scrum, this has been an area that the Inish forwards have thrived on this year and with a reshuffle in the front row Eamon (Bushman) Doherty was tried in the unfamiliar role of hooker. John Kelly moving to tight head prop gave him a crash course in hooking as the game went on, with Eamon taking a number of balls against the head and winning all his own scrums its fair to say the gamble payed off.
With Inishowen applying most of the pressure in the opening exchanges it looked like they would open the scoring but Tir Chonial were awarded a penalty which the number 10 slotted over to give them a 3-0 lead, from the restart the forwards applied the pressure and got a line out inside the Tir Choniall half. The maul that worked to such effect last week was called upon once again and good ground was made before number 8 Anthony Cantwell broke to score in the left hand corner, a difficult conversion was missed to leave the scores close at 5-3. Inishowen scored soon after through fullback Conor Mulkearns to stretch the lead to 10-3, any thoughts the floodgates would open were quickly cast aside when the Tir Choniall backs carved through the Inish defence a little to easy bringing the score back to 10-3. Inishowen regrouped behind the posts and words of encouragement from John Merritt helped to raise their game, the forwards started to hit the rucks with more aggression and the maul was again used with good effect. Another lineout this time caught by Cantwell was mauled over half the length of the pitch before McCrossan broke from the back 15 metres from the line, as Mattie went from first gear to first gear the try line drew closer but he blew a gasket with metres to go and popped the ball to Hickey to score in the right hand corner. Unfortunatly for the members of Inishowen rugby club it looks like we will have to listen as Mattie recites the story of his try in Strabane all those years ago for another while.
Inishowen went into the second half with their noses infront, they enjoyed spells of pressure but met with stout defending time and time again. With strength on the sidelines a number of changes were made, James Carr coming on for his first start of the season, Gregg Byron and Gary McEleney also getting involved. Gary getting straight into the action was unlucky as he tried to stay inside the field of play with some fancy footwork on the sideline. With the game in the final quarter Inishowen thought they had finished off the scoring as Mark Glasha scored a penalty , Cantwell added another try and Mo Harkin scored to make up for his earlier “turnip” moment when he dropped the ball as he dived over the try line. Tir Choniall had other ideas though and showed a never say die attitude as they scored a try and conversion with the last play of the game.
Well done to all involved and good luck to Tir Choniall for the rest of the season, training continues this Thursday and coach Adrian Thompson has asked all that all players are on the pitch for 7.15 sharp.
