Letterkenny 1st XV entertained the PSNI at judges road in Derry on Saturday afternoon and the Donegal men produced their strongest performance of the season to run out 50-6 winners.
The game started poorly for Letterkenny with a mistake from the kick off giving early field position to the PSNI however from this early scrum it was clear that the forwards meant business and defence was soon turned into attack. Good set piece possession was causing all sorts of problems in the visitors defence and only poor execution prevented Letterkenny getting an early try. However the PSNI defence was giving up penalty opportunities and Brian Peoples knocked over a couple of early chances to leave the score 6-0.
After twenty minutes the Letterkenny forwards took control of the ball inside the visitors 22 and never looked like giving it back until they got over the line and sure enough Liam McGlynn finished off a number of forward drives with a try under the posts which People’s converted. The two teams then exchanged penalties until Letterkenny struck again this time through the backs. The forwards made ground up the right touch line and the ball was then moved through the backs as far as Jason Daley who outpaced the cover and dotted down under the posts, Peoples again converted leaving the halftime score 23-6.
The second half was one way traffic and surely Letterkennys best 40 minutes of rugby this season. The half started with the Donegal men keeping the ball into the wind with the pack carrying the ball ably assisted by Michael Turvey and Andrew Gibson. When the chance to break out finally came it was taken with both hands. Turvey and Gibson carried the ball to the PSNI half and a good line out move saw the forwards take the ball on further when tight head Conor Roynane came onto a pass from Williamson and despite the attentions of a couple of defenders the young prop managed to power over from thirty meters. People’s added the two points. At this stage the forwards were dominating all phases of play and a scintillating back line move involving Turvey, Paul Cassidy and Daley earned a scrum ten meters from the try line. There was only going to be one outcome and sure enough Mark Scott got the touch down from number eight. Five minutes later Letterkenny were at it again and this time Scott fed Turvey from the base of a scrum and he danced over from close range for another score. The Letterkenny back line was in full flow and when McGonagle ran the ball back from the kick off some clever lines of running brought field position into the psni 22. With all the defenders flooding to cover the rampant backs Mark Scott switched the play to the blind and Paul Cassidy put second row Conor Dunleavey away up the left touch line, the big man still had a lot to do but he showed great footwork and power to get over for a fine score.
There was still time for the police to threaten a score of their own and they looked to be in in the right corner but good communication in defence overcame an overlap and a brilliant cover tackle from full back peoples stopped the move, not only that but blindside Shane McArt was first to the tackle to rip the ball from the attacker and clear the danger. Brilliant defence so late in the game. However Letterkenny were not done yet themselves and still had time to score the best try of the game. From a scrum inside their own 22 clever running in the centre saw Cassidy burst clean through, the move was carried on by McGlynn and Daley before Dunleavy again appeared on the left wing, this time he couldn’t quite make the line but managed to offload to the waiting McGlynn who touched down for his second score of the game to round off the scoring. Final score Letterkenny 50 psni 6.
The Letterkenny second half was impressive and Williamson and Turvey deserve special mention for controlling the game from half back. Up front Conor Dunleavey again had a fine game and Karl Egan and Shaun Dunleavy did a lot of the hard work around the fringes. Try scoring sensation Liam McGlynn again rolled back the years with his customary all action display. Next up its Strabane, with their powerful scrum and swarming defence they are a match for any side in this league and a great contest is anticipated at Strabane academy.
Letterkenny: 15.Brian Peoples 14.John Anthony McFadden 13.Paul Cassidy 12.Andrew Gibson 11.Jason Daley 10.Michael Turvey 9.Damien Williamson 8.Mark Scott 7.Liam McGlynn 6.Shane McArt 5.Conor Dunleavy 4.Shaun Dunleavy 3.Conor Roynane 2.Karl Egan (c) 1.Rory McGonagle
