Limavady 1st xv travelled to Omagh on saturday in a resumption of the league programme following a 3 week break and gave a very spirited performance and were unfortunate to lose 12-7.
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Playing with the slope on the pitch in the first half Limavady started brightly and after 10 minutes scored a very well worked try with Jordan creating a gap in midfield to put Hunter in space and the centre raced in from the 22 under the posts with Jordan converting to make it 7-0 to the visitors. Omagh came back strongly from this setback but the Limavady defence was excellent with backrowers Hamilton and Semple very much to the fore around the base of the ruck and in midfield Hunter and Hull were rock solid.For most of the remainder of the half Omagh held the advantage in field position and should have scored on a couple of occasions but poor decisions allowed Limavady off he hook and at half time Limavady led 7-0.
The second half began with Omagh dominating possession and playing the game in the Limavady 22 and it was only through last ditch defence that Limavady held their line in tact.There then followed a period of 10 minutes where Limavady gave away penalty and free kicks galore and the writing was on the wall when Jordan was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on. Omagh made full use of the numerical advantage and forced their way over the Limavady line on 2 occasions and with one of these converted it left the home team leading 12-7.
With Jordan back on the pitch Limavady again raised their game and showing tremendous spirit retaining possession for long periods with strong driving runs from Scot,Purcell and McCollum and following one of these King was unlucky not to get in in the corner when the referee failed to play any advantage for Limavady. In the dieing minutes skipper Hamilton charged down a kick and appeared to have won the foot race for the touchdown but the referee who wasnt up with play said the ball had run dead.This was unfortunate as it was the last real opportunity Limavady had in the game.
Despite the defeat Limavady can take a lot from this game going into next saturdays home game against league leaders Ballyclare. If the side is to get anything out of this game against what will be a big physical side then they cant afford to give away so many free kicks and penalties and their line out has to function to ensure possession and ball retention.
II XV v Dromore RFC II XV
Limavady travelled to Dromore with a much changed team from last week. Jonny
King, Ross Parkhill & Willie Hunt (first game of the season for the 1XV this
season) moved up to play for the 1XV and Pearce McNickle and Kyle Murray were
both working. As a result Daniel Irvine (first senior match for the Club), Cahir
Mullan and Jamie Mark all played their first games for the 2XV. Lucas Brolly
also moved up from the 3XV. Adam Faulkner moved to scrum half and James Purcell
to inside centre, both first time positions for each player this season.
This match started as any cup match with both teams being nervous and making
silly mistakes. Dromore opened the scoring on 9 mins with slotting over a
penalty, with Limavady missing one of their own a minute later. Limavady
continued to pressure the Dromore line and whilst doing so on 14 mins Mark Hunt
sustained a serious injury to his right ankle resulting in his end to the game
and a trip to the Royal Victoria Hospital.
With Limavady now up against all odds and Dromore with the wind on their backs
and the extra man started to press and camped much of the remainder of the first
half within the Limavady half. Limavady were punished by giving away silly
penalties, which Dromore failed to convert into points. On 36 mins Dromore got
the first try of the day down the left wing when Limavady missed a tackle on the
the Dromore winger and instead of bungling him into touch allowed him to stay
strong and force his way over the line in the corner making good use of the
corner flag. Dromore missed the conversion and ended the half with an 8 – 0
lead.
The second half started the same as the first finished with both teams making
silly handling errors and handing advantage back to the opposition. After 50
minutes tempers flared between both hookers and the Dromore 12 ran some 15
metres to rise above the mellie and strike the Limavady prop in the face. After
calm was restored the Dromore 12 was shown a red card and both hookers yellow
cards. From the resulting penalty Cahir Mullan slotted over to reduce the score
to 8 – 3.
From this point Limavady eventually began to start to play a bit of rugby but
again every time they mounted a good attack they made silly mistakes and handed
the advantage back to Dromore. On 59 minutes Limavady paid the price for a
catalogue of errors when Dromore kicked the ball deep into the left corner and
instead of being able to clear the ball into touch it bounced awkwardly coming
off a Limavady player and going over the line for Dromore to touch down for an
easy score to increase their lead to 15 – 3.
Limavady finally began to play the style of rugby they can and mounted a number
of good attacks on the Dromore line who began to look a bit nervous and on 65
minutes Tommy MacAuley slipped his tackle to score Limavady’s first try of the
day to the left of the posts. Mullan missed the conversion to leave the score 15
– 8.
Despite a great spirited last 15 minutes when Limavady played their best rugby
of the day having been over the Dromore 3 times, once to have the ball slapped
out of Adam Faulkner’s hands as he was about to touch down in the left corner
and twice when the forwards were held up over the line. Limavady were also
stopped twice just short of the line by the resilient Dromore defence who were
adamant that despite wave after wave of attacks from Limavady they were not
going to breach their lines.
The match finished with Dromore winning 15 points to 8 and we wish them well in
the next round.
We also wish Mark Hunt a speedy recovered from his ankle injury. Man of the
match given to James Purcell.
