NUTTY KRUST FLOODLIT TOURNAMNET 2014: Wednesday night saw the first of this years Quarter finals of the Nutty Krust tournament with Malone playing Lurgan for a place in the semi Finals up for grabs.
Malone kicked off the game and it was the Belfast side which dominated the opening proceedings which saw them camped in the Lurgan 22 for the first 10 mins of the game. But for all their pressure were unable to put any points on the board. Lurgans defence held firm and it was Lurgan who opened the scoring with a break by Mark Mcilwaine from his own 22 passing to Chris Clague who ran in to score under the posts, and extra points added by Mark Mcilwaine. Lurgan further increased their lead 2mins later when outhalf Mark Mcilwaine scored from a scrum on the halfway line which he then converted.
[CLICK HERE for 900+ Nikon D5100 shots from the game]
Chris Clague increased the lead after a break by no5 Adam Blakely and again the extra points were added.Malone came back into the game and had a period of pressure but Lurgans defence kept the Belfast men from crossing the whitewash. The final action of the first half saw Lurgans no 3 Cameron Lyness score and again Mark Mcilwaine added the conversion.
Half time scor Lurgan 28 Malone 0
Lurgan continued on were they left off in the first half and it wasn’t long till they ran in another score following a break by Andrew White setting up Pete Burke to score , this time the conversion was wide. Mark Mcilwaine capped off a good all round performance by scoring his second of the night from a 5m scrum which he duly converted. Malone were better in the second half and made their tackles which was lacking in the first half.The final score of the evening came from an interception on the halfway line and again the extra points were added leaving the final score Lurgan 47 Malone 0
On reflection it would be fair to say Malone never recovered from Lurgans first half blitz of 3 tries in 10mins which left them shell shocked but it was the overall team performance of Lurgan playing with pace ,good support play and a dominant scrum up front which sees them into the draw for the semi finals
Man of the Match award went to Lurgan Scrum half Dylan Gill which was presented in the clubhouse after the match by Brian Irwin sponsor of the Nutty Krust tournament
The 2nd Quarter Final is on Wednesday 19th Larne v Instonians ko 7.45pm at chambers Park
