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Pics (c ) Steve Haslett
Ards v Limavady
Saturday, 7th March 2020
This week saw Limavady on their travels again, this time a bit further afield, away to Ards. This was a venue last year which caused an upset so the team travelled expecting a difficult match.
Ards opened the scoring on nine minutes when their out-half slotted home a penalty. Limavady playing into a stiff breeze were able to not let this affect them and hit back with the opening try when centre, Stuart Morrow raced through to touch down. Ards are a strong physical side and they carried out their game plan of tackling hard and spoiling any good clean ball that Limavady could manage to secure, very well. A second try however soon followed when Jim McCartney was able to sprint through a gap in the home defence. The game flowed from side to side although the play was disrupted by firm tackling by the home side and an over fussy referee choosing to penalise Limavady on a regular basis. The picture looked a little rosier just before half-time when Jody McMurray scored the try of the half as he picked up from the base of the scrum on the 22 metre line and showed a clean pair of heels to the would be tacklers. Peter Wilson added the extras. The final points of the half fell to Ards as they slotted home another penalty
Half-Time: Ards 6 Limavady 17
Turning round at half-time meant Limavady now had the advantage of the strong breeze on their backs and it didn’t take long for the bonus point try to be secured as following good ball transfer through the hands Peter Wilson was able to put his fellow half back, Gavin Martin in for a score. Peter again converted. Try number five came again from the lively McCartney as he dived in, in his customary manner, to stretch the lead. Ards continued to press and scored a try with only a few minutes left. Limavady however were to have the final say as Ben Riley finished off the scoring as he too touched down.
Full-Time: Ards 13 Limavady 36
Limavady 2nds also travelled this week, to Cooke, a side with which they are competing for promotion. With only fifteen minutes left Limavady held the lead only to capitulate on the final run in and lose by 49 points to 29. Limavady’s try scorers were Aaron Reilly, Bob Lamberton, Matthew King and Jamie Miller with out-half, Harry McAleese, adding three conversions and a penalty.
Congratulations
The highlight of the day however occurred on Saturday morning as Limavady’s exciting young U16 side competed in the final of the Ulster League Play Offs, as they took on Monaghan at the Meadowbank Centre in Magherafelt. With a large support behind them the young players put on an amazing performance to run out victorious with trys being scored by Ryan McGrath, Ross Crawford and in the final minute James Mason. Patrick Campbell-Moore converted one of these to leave the final score Limavady 17, Monaghan 7. These young men are to be congratulated for the way they conducted themselves and the level of performance that they put in. The future for Limavady Rugby Club looks rosy.
Club Chairman and Director of Rugby, Harry Faulkner commented, “On behalf of the Club I would like to congratulate the U16 team in winning the Ulster play-offs at Meadowbank on Saturday. This is a talented group of young players are a credit to themselves, their families and our Club. Also congratulations to their coaching staff – Jamie Mark and David Wilson, who have been coaching them since U14’s and joined more recently by Ali Crown and Alan Young. Also like to acknowledge the hard work put into our youth section by our youth convenor, Ian Mahoney.
it is hard to believe that five years ago Limavady were unable to field any youth teams in the Ulster youth leagues. With the assistance of the Ulster Branch, Peter Wilson was appointed as our Youth Rugby Development Officer starting with 3-4 U14 lads kicking football for a couple of months and by the end of the first season they had got the bones of an U14 team. These lads are now young men leaving our U18’s and joining our senior teams in a few weeks. A big thank you to Peter for his dedication and all his hours of hard work and we as a Club wish him all the best in his new coaching role with Ulster Rugby.
The mini/maxis and youth players are the future of our Club and it is great to see how they have developed and earned the success we as a Club are having at both youth and senior level. Thanks to all the volunteers who turn up every week to coach and facilitate matches and to all the dedicated supporters, who do our Club proud.
This U16 team narrowly lost out in the U16 North League title loosing to Ballymena by a point at the end of a great match away to Ballymena. They still have a domestic Cup competition as well as the all Ireland play-offs starting with a semi final against the Leinster U16 champions, Naas – we wish them every success in both these competitions”.
