OPHIR MARCH ON
Last Saturday’s clash of the giants saw Ophir and Strabane, two teams unbeaten in Qualifying League matches this season, meeting at the Cottonmount, Mallusk.
It was a game of attrition, both sides hurling themselves into the conflict with frightening intensity. Ophir were missing a number of key men through injury, not least Captain, Gareth Anderson, who spent the entire match bellowing advice and encouragement from the touchline.
Strabane started the better of the two teams, immediately putting the home side under serious pressure close to the line. It was clear from the outset that Strabane were to rely on their dominating forwards to crush the Ophir resistance. But Ophir had other ideas and their defence stood up to the pressure without flinching. Strabane lost an early opportunity to take the lead, missing a relatively easy penalty chance in front of the posts. And then, from almost their first venture into the opposition half, the Ophir pack recycled possession to take them to the Strabane line where Neil Gray, just as he did twice against Holywood last week, crashed over to open the scoring. Dad Wilbert would have been delighted if he’d been there. Full back, David Walker converted and Ophir led 7 points to nil. Back came Strabane and their front eight dominated play; driving and rucking well to retain possession. But Ophir were somewhat saved by the extremely muddy conditions that led 
to a number of fumbles and the breakdown of promising moves. Somehow, Ophir were surviving the onslaught partially through good fortune but mostly through gritty determination to keep their lines intact. And so they did, although Strabane did manage a successful penalty 3 minutes before the half ended.
Strabane opened the second half, in the same style as the first, battering away at the Ophir defence. Their forwards were winning possession almost with ease from the way they took over both scrum and line out. Most of the action was in the Ophir half of the pitch and indeed far to close to the line for the Ophir support. But again and again, the home defence tackled with ferocity and pushed the visitors into crucial handling errors or penalties. Then it seemed disaster struck; Ophir’s back row David Lucas was sin binned for 10 minutes for holding on to the ball on the ground once too often. Against the 14 men, Strabane hurled themselves into the attack, six times they attempted to crash over the line from rucks but Ophir held on and miraculously, scrum half Karl Davis came to the rescue, ripping possession and clearing the ball upfield. But it was inevitable that the extra man would play a part in the action and the exhausted Ophir forwards conceded a penalty under t
he posts, easily converted to put Strabane within one point. Still Strabane strove to get over the Ophir line and laid siege 5 metres out until once again Karl Davis stole the ball and out half James Milligan cleared to touch. 25 minutes into the half, Ophir’s hooker, John Curley, had to leave the field temporarily because of a blood injury. This led to uncontested scrums and at last Ophir were able to take clean possession from set play. Play progressed to the Strabane 22 and in one of the few moves to involve the backs on either side the ball swept to the Ophir wing but an unfortunate knock on brought it to a shuddering halt. Back came Strabane and the Ophir defence was again tested to the limit, but again held firm. Curley returned to the action and Ophir made ground to the opposition 22. After a scrum, a scuffle broke out between the two packs and the referee adjudged Strabane to be at fault. With a minute of normal time left on the clock David Walker calmly
took the opportunity and stroked the ball between the uprights to give Ophir a 4 point lead. But Strabane were not yet finished. Undoubtedly feeling dismay that they had failed to cross the Ophir line, they hurled the ball about to try to find a gap in the defence. And they almost did; a neat passing move was set to send their flying winger on a sprint to the corner, but the final pass was forward and Ophir could breathe again. And so it ended, disappointment for Strabane after a tremendous display but a fantastic show of defence from Ophir together with a demonstration of how to take advantage of any opportunity. Ophir 10 – Strabane 6.
Across town, at CIYMS, Ophir IIs beat their IIIs 10 points to 7, but Ophir IIIs lost to Malone at the Valley Leisure Centre.
