Armoy 14 – 14 Inishowen
Honours even after hard fought battle in Armoy
Inishowen travelled to Lime Park, Armoy for their first game of 2012 and their first league game in six weeks since the two side last met, Inishowen won the previous game 10-0 but knew getting a result on the road against last years league champions would be a tougher task. With regular prop forwards Brian Harkin, John Kelly and Stephen Glackin all unavailable an SOS call to the north pole was made for the quick return of Kealan who spent the winter working as an elf, he rushed home still wearing his uniform and joined the evergreen Philip McFadden and Eamon Doherty in the front row.
Armoy won the toss and decided to kick, the visitors received through Gregg Byron and went through a couple of phases before out half Mark Glasha kicked deep into the opposition 22. The Armoy fullback kicked straight to touch handing Inishowen the lineout in a threatening position, ball was won by McCrossan but the resulting maul made no ground and the home side got the put in at the scrum. With the change of personnel in the front row the Inishowen pack struggled with the larger Armoy forwards in the scrum and a mix up in the following lineout handed possession back to the home side, this resulted in a frustrating first 20 mins with Inishowens set piece not functioning properly and with a quarter of the match played Armoy were two converted try’s to the good. 
The first try coming from an Inishowen scrum stolen against the head and soft tackling leading to the second, a penalty from Glasha in between the Armoy scores gave the home side a
14-3 lead.
The Inishowen forwards upped the tempo and the backline looked dangerous in attack with Paul Cassidy, Maurice Harkin and Gary McEleney all carrying well. Two more penaltys before half time were converted by Glasha to leave the scores 14-9 to the home side at half time.
During the halftime team huddle everybody was in agreement that a loss was handing the advantage to Armoy in the league and if Inishowen were to continue their push for the top spot they needed a result against their title rivals. The visitors started the half brightly with the set piece functioning like it should giving a solid platform for the backs to attack and good ground was made. Number 8 James Carr picked and went from the back of a scrum passing to Anthony Cantwell who made good ground before giving the ball to the backs who passed through the hands out to Cassidy who scored 10 metres in from the right wing. The difficult conversion went wide of the left upright to level the scores at 14 apiece and it was game on for the rest of the second half.
The remainder of the game saw both sides pushing hard for the winning score and each team kept the discipline scared to give away a penalty that would cost them the game. With minutes left on the clock Armoy tested the visitors defence but Inishowen held firm, with no way through and no penalty chances coming their way the substitute out-half received the ball and lined up to take a drop goal but changed his mind at the last minute choosing to run with the ball instead.
The final whistle blew the scores tied at 14-14, with tired bodies from both teams lying on the ground it was evident that both sets of players had given everything. A fair result on the day the draw probably suits the visitors more than their hosts in the title race and 3 points out of a maximum 4 over their title rivals this years proves how far this Inishowen team has come since getting soundly beaten 28-0 in the same fixture last season.
Turnip of the week was Kealan Mallon for his fashion faux pas wearing a bright green shirt, runners up were Anthony Cantwell and Gregg Byron for thinking they had lost the game.
Training continues Tuesdays and Thursdays as we enter the business end of the season with 6 league games left and a number of teams breathing down our necks. Next week Inishowen travel to neighbours City of Derry for what always proves to be a tough fixture, kick off 14:30 all support is welcome and very much appreciated.
for pictures of U13 XV & U17 XV CLICK HERE
Inishowen U13’s win against Dungannon
January 18th 2012
In the best weather conditions possible on Saturday the Inishowen U13’s played Dungannon RFC who had travelled nearly 3 hours for the game. Inishowen started with great intensity taking the ball into contact and retaining possession for the back line to make good ground. The boys contested for every ball and have improved greatly in their tackling from the games before Christmas. The Dungannon side were very slick in passing the ball around the park and taking quick tap penalties which resulted in their scores. At half time the score was 24 – 12 to Inishowen. The second half was very tight and both teams battled hard for territory but in the last 5 minutes Inishowen scored two more tries through very good support play. The final score, Inishowen U13’s 34 – Dungannon U13’s 12. Training each Wednesday night from 7.30 – 8.30 at Carndonagh Community School, all new players very welcome. PHOTO’S HERE
Done in by Dungannon
Inishowen Under 17s 5 – Dungannon Under 17s 10
With the Under 17 squad at home to face Dungannon, the morning started off with a photo shoot to mark the arrival and christening of a new team kit, very kindly sponsored by Cityman. With a very slight breeze and good, dry and bright conditions, it was hoped that the home team would be able to mark the occasion by putting on the type of performance that they are capable of.
Inishowen started brightly enough and were able to put the visitors under some early pressure, with scrums and lineouts looking productive, they were able to gain reasonable possession, forcing Dungannon into defensive mode. Whilst they found set pieces comfortable enough, there was a lack of willingness at the breakdown, to exert dominance, with the early battles around the ruck going Dungannon’s way.
This productive early work however was undone from a Dungannon lineout in the Inishowen 22, recognising that the home side had superiority in the air, they worked a clever short throw to the front of the line, where the ‘Gannon No. 3 who caught it showed good strength to hand off the defence and cross the line for a try.
Whilst this score, which was unconverted, was against the run of play, it could be said that Inishowen’s greatest problems were all self made. Over the Christmas period, one would have been unlucky not to see a repeat of the Morecombe and Wise sketch with André Previn, with Eric on the piano, protesting that he was playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order, and so it was with the Inishowen team at times, they were performing skills technically well, but in the wrong areas of the pitch all too often and with it – putting themselves under undue pressure.
Passing out of tackles in congested areas, failing to catch and drive from lineouts when in their own 22, passing laterally with no forward penetration, all added to the small mistakes that denied them the type of advantage that so could easily have been theirs. But cardinal of their sins, as the first half continued, was their inability to secure their own ball at the ruck. This cost them dearly, as turnover ball from the dogged Dungannon pack snuffed out very promising opportunities and threw the visitors lifelines, just when they were about to go under.
The only difference between the two teams by half time was the Dungannon try in the first 5 minutes, but at the start of the second half, Inishowen showed some good go forward momentum, interpassing between the forwards and backs brought them up to the Dungannon 5 metre line where the ball became loose in play. A rushed clearance kick from the Gannon full back only found its way to Conor Woods, standing well within the visitors half, who caught and counter attacked, bringing the ball back into their 22.
His run was halted by a tackle, and Inishowen were again very slow to react and secure the ruck, allowing the Dungannon inside centre a chance to pick the ball off the floor, and high tail his way towards the Inishowen try line, after his sterling run, harried by two defenders, his moment of glory was cut short as he was judged to have dropped the ball going over the line, try denied and a scrum to the home team. This did little but to sting the visitors into action and they put Inishowen under severe pressure for the next 5 minutes before eventually crossing the line for their second try.
From then on, Inishowen did up their work rate and were able, through more effective rucking to start stringing more productive phases together, they were able to create overlaps regularly, but were unable to utilise them to their full potential – often taking the ball into contact instead of passing to the outside man, much to the frustration of their Coach and mentor Adrian Thompson.
Still, with the renewed pressure came opportunity, and Conor Sullivan was able to capitalise on one such opportunity and twisted and turned through a frantic defence, crossing the try line with two defenders and managing against the odds to ground the ball.
With the scores close, at 5 -10, the rest of the match became an edgy affair, as the home launched numerous phases against the visitors, who were able to counter them and clear their lines. This was the pattern for the remainder of the game, as the final whistle got closer, nerves and tempers were frayed, but by full time, the scoreline remained unchanged and Dungannon were able to claim bragging rights for the encounter.
