Inishowen 78 – 3 Ballymoney.
As the Ulster Minor League North heads towards the business end of the season the title race is wide open with four teams battling to finish on top. The first Saturday in February saw two top of the table clashes as Inishowen travelled to Uuc knowing that a youthful bunch of students could be beaten by out muscling them up front and Armoy travelled to Strabane. Inishowen’s season had spluttered in recent weeks as a number of injuries caused havoc with the team and a poor performance against Uuc dealt their title hopes a blow as the students ran out winners with a 8-6 scoreline. A 12-12 draw between Strabane and Armoy handed the league advantage to Uuc who had dropped 4 points after 12 games, Inishowen, Armoy and Strabane had all dropped 5 points after 14,12 and 11 games respectively. The second Saturday in February saw Inishowen welcome Ballymoney to the community school looking to make amends for recent performances, B’money currently prop up the league but couldn’t be taken lightly as the team is full of seasoned rugby players. Inishowen we’re still missing a number of regulars and the backline saw a number of changes with Mark Glasha moving to 9, Paul Cassidy going to 10, Gary McEleney once again showing his versatility playing at outside centre and Seamus Stamp making his first start on the wing.
Inishowen received the kick off and hit the visitors from the start, centre Maurice Harkin punched through the defence and scored under the posts with 5 minutes gone. The home side pushed for another score from the restart but it was the visitors who were next to score with a penalty in front of the posts, another Ballymoney penalty was missed soon after and it was all one way traffic for the rest of the game. The first fifteen minutes saw Inishowen push hard for scores but once they settled into the game the floodgates opened and a good all round performance gave the home side a comfortable 78-3 victory. Tries coming from Anthony Cantwell (4), Maurice Harkin (3), Paul Cassidy (2), one from winger Tony Diver and Mark Glasha added two tries to bring his personal tally to 28. Inishowen were able to make a number of changes in the game with Philip McFadden, Joe Doherty, David Cassidy and James Friel all getting game time Next week Inishowen take a break from the league as they meet Armoy for the third game this year, this time in the quarter final of the Butler Shield. Armoy had an impressive 42-15 win over Uuc to leave it all to play for in the league with only a few games left.
Training at the stables in Malin at 8pm Tuesday, a full turnout is expected and the club sends its apologies to all WAGs due to Valentines day in Inishowen being postponed.
