Sat 19th Oct, 2:30pm. Larne 88 – 3 Civil Service
Garrett and McIlheron bag hat tricks apiece. by Stephen Johnston
Larne 1st XV entertained Civil Service on Saturday at the Glynn in their second game of the Gordon West Cup.
There was a pre match function before the game kindly sponsored by the Clubs Main Sponsor AMNEXDAY.
The team took the pitch fresh after a week off and their last victory being that of the demolition job done on Letterkenny.
It wasn’t long until the team were in the ascendency when the scrum pushed the Civil Service pack back at the rate of knots. The pressure finally told and Andrews slotted over a penalty in front of the posts.
The pressure continued at scrum time with Ricky McIlheron nipping over for Larne’s first score after the scrum moved up field. His brother Mark was next on the score sheet after a catch and drive at the lineout.
The Larne men continued to score however they were not playing with the same fluidity as that in the Letterkenny game with parts of the first half littered with handling errors.
Garrett crossed the whitewash twice along with Mills, Thomas and Mark McIlheron for his second.
At half time coach Kelly told the team that he wanted workrate increased in the second half to work on things that are being worked on at training.
The team duly obliged and the tries continued. Second rows Colin McKinty and Jonny Cole went over for well deserved tries.
Prop Craig Gibson went over for a good team score. There was a well taken try for young outhalf Philip Andrews dancing his way through the Civil Service backline for a score.
Garrett and Mark McIlheron both went over for another score each to complete their hattricks. Civil Service did come back at the Larne men and were awarded a penalty in front of the posts that they slotted over for 3 points.
The game finished 81-3 to the Larne men.
All in all a good team performance by the Larne men with plenty of things to work on before their big test next week against league leaders Donegal.
It would be unfair to pick out individuals however Ryan Garrett couldn’t be outdone by his brothers’ hat-trick the week before for the seconds so had to do the same this week.
Also, Mark McIlheron who thoroughly deserved his 3 tries for his relentless and tireless work rate for the full 80 minutes.
Larne Team 1-15: C Gibson, G Wright, C Rea, C McKinty, J Cole, J McCluggage (Capt), M McIlheron, E Hunter, R McIlheron, P Andrews, G Mills, I McIlheron, S Montgomery, R Thomas, R Garrett
Sat 19th Oct, 2:30pm. Clogher Valley 35 – 38 Larne
Important Away Win For Larne 2nds by Stephen Johnston
This was a hard earned away win for the seconds and a highly entertaining game for all those who watched.
Clogher Valley 35 v Larne 2nds 38
The match ebbed and flowed from beginning to end eventually going down to the last kick of the game when Aaron McBride stroked over a difficult penalty from close to 40 metres to seal the win for Larne.
Both sides started well and tried to play some good rugby but it was Clogher Valley who got off to the better start with a converted try after 10 minutes. This was followed by a penalty to take a 10 point lead.
It was essential that Larne scored next and they did exactly that with an excellent solo try for Jordan Burns who counter attacked from a clearance kick from the 10 metre line. McBride added the extras and Larne were up and running.
As was the nature of this exciting game Clogher valley struck again. This was swiftly followed by an intercept try by Bobby Garrett to keep Larne in the hunt.
The Clogher Valley pack were dominating up front and making great ground around the fringes through some weak Larne tackling and, with a 25 – 14 half time lead it looked like they would run away with it if Larne didn’t up their game.
Up their game they did. The tackling improved and the intelligent and skilful Larne backline started to show just what it was capable of.
Aaron McBride controlled things well from outhalf and Gary Knox scored a beautiful solo try to get Larne back in the hunt. This was followed by 2 more tries from Nick Kelso and Jordan Burns, all converted by McBride, to race into a 35 – 25 lead.
It looked like the game was won but Valley again upped their commitment and came straight back at Larne and soon the teams were tied on 35-35.
There was some stand out performances in defence from Larne with a huge tackle count from Luke Cameron, and by Greg Liddle and Aaron McBride around the fringes. In attack Burns a Knox worked brilliantly in midfield with Kelso, Johnson and Blair always looking dangerous.
Away wins against top teams are what win leagues and man of the match McBride’s winning penalty could turn out to be critical for this talented and ambitious young team.
Larne: D. Lough, R. McAlister, B. Warwick, A. Ferguson, G. Liddle, L. Cameron, W. Robinson, S. Johnston, B. Garrett, A. McBride, N. Kelso, G. Knox, J. Burns, B. Blair, J. Johnson
