WAKE UP CALL FOR OPHIR
By Ron Bell | Saturday 10th December 2011
Ophir Firsts, supported by Ballyvesey Recycling Solutions, transferred their Qualifying League game from the Cottonmount to Kerr Park, Holywood.
Ophir welcomed back former captain, Will Lucas together with the present captain, Gareth Anderson, Dave Lucas and Cillian Rooney after injury.
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Holywood kicked off but for the first ten minutes of the game Ophir stormed the opposition defence. Scrum half, Karl Davis kicked ahead and the Holywood full back just about beat Ophir winger Dee O’Reilly to the ball. The Ophir pack stole possession from the ruck and it was very unlucky that a clever slipped pass from captain and second row Gareth Anderson went to ground with a clear chance begging to be taken. Ophir continued to pressurise the defence led as ever by Neil Gray, ably supported by the pack, and were rewarded with a penalty
for offside in the middle of the park. Full back Davy Walker calmly stroked the ball between the posts to the delight of dad Jim on the touchline. Ophir suffered a series of injuries, particularly second row, Stewart Henry and Gareth Anderson but fortunately they were able to carry on. Then Holywood took the ball in hand into the Ophir half for the first time but handling errors let them down; Ophir cleared their lines and reverted to the pattern set in the early stages of the game. But try as they might, Ophir could not breach the Holywood defence. Time and again, they were let down by a series of dropped passes, knocks on and needless penalties conceded to the opposition. In their second excursion into Ophir territory, Holywood levelled the scores with a penalty for holding on to the ball after a tackle. The half ended with a splendid kick to touch by Davy Walker from the narrowest of angles on his own line to the 10 metre mark.
The solid Ophir support was optimistic about the second half. All their team had to do was cut out the silly mistakes and the 80% possession they had enjoyed in the first would readily be transferred into points. But no; Holywood had other ides and seemingly suddenly realising they were on level terms after a first half battering, they took the game by the scruff of the neck and attacked the Ophir line at will. After nearly scoring on the touchline, from the simplest of direct moves after a set scrum, their hooker broke through for a touchdown under the posts. With the conversion, Holywood led 10 points to 3. In the next ten minutes Ophir began to find some their earlier form and got a penalty 30 metres out. Bravely, Davy Walker stood up to the challenge and hefted the kick high between the posts. And he repeated the performance 5 minutes later to put Ophir just one point behind. The tension on the touchline was high; both set of supporters realising the game could
swing either way. Ophir regained their sparkle and enjoyed plenty of possession, but the talisman Karl Davis wasn’t getting the clean ball he needed to make a break – and Holywood hassled and spoiled to good effect. Then came the killer blow for Ophir; after his forwards making laborious progress up the pitch the Holywood prop took a pass at speed 5 metres out and unstoppably bashed through the exhausted defence. The conversion made it 17 – 9 and just before the final whistle, Ophir’s misery was compounded by the red carding of out half James Milligan. And this continued the recent Ophir tradition of finishing matches with less than 15 men.
After a series of tremendous League and Conference victories, this match will bring a dose of reality to the Cottonmount XV and turn a largely lacklustre performance into points scoring wins. Hopefully. This Saturday Ophir Thirds will turn out at a venue to be decided.
