Rainey Endowed School hosted the perennial Ulster Schools’ Cup favourites, Methodist College, in an exciting Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup game in Magherafelt.
The pictures are below the report:
Playing in front of a large crowd of enthusiastic supporters the Rainey Endowed team started strongly but, as a result of a turnover, the Methodist College captain, Rory Winters, kicked deep into Rainey Endowed territory. From the resultant lineout, Chris Gracey barged over the Rainey line for the first try of the game. Rudolph Benade added the conversion to give the Methody team a 7-0 lead after just four minutes of the game. The Methody team pressurised the Rainey defence from the restart and a few minutes later increased their lead to 10-0 when Rudolph Benade was successful with a penalty opportunity. The Methodist College team was now in control of the game and, after a number of phases, scrum half David McElhinney sent Elliott Mooney over for a try in the corner. The conversion was missed but the visitors now had a 15-0 lead. The Rainey Endowed pack now began to win some good ball and the backs took advantage. For the next tweenty minutes the home side probably edged the possession and territory battle. Conal Murphy and Jack McCalmont carried a lot of ball effectively and this caused problems for the Methody team. Arran Murphy was pulling the strings at outhalf and was behind a lovely move that resulted in Jamie Noble being tackled by Dan Bingham in the corner just short of the line. Persistent Rainey attacks were very well defended by Methody but, after great work by Mark Kavanagh and Damien Devlin, Methody were penalised. Martin Connolly kicked a penalty to record the first Rainey points of the game and reduce the arrears to 15-3. The score remained at 15-3 until the interval. From the restart the Methodist College team took play deep into the Rainey half and after a number of phases the Methody centre, Mark Gribben, broke through the Rainey Endowed defence to touch down under the posts. Rudolph Benade added the conversion to see his team into a 22-3 lead. Rainey Endowed then kicked off and after a fumble in Methody defence the Rainey players hacked the ball over the Methody line where Samuel Hawe was first to the touchdown. The conversion was missed but the Rainey team had reduced the arrears to 22-8. Chris Moffett and Ryan Brown combined to threaten the Methody line but a last ditch tackle denied the Rainey team of a second try. The result was sealed when Rudolph Benade kicked a penalty for his Methody team to ensure a hard earned but, ultimately well-deserved, 25-8 victory and a place in the draw for the Quarter-Final of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup.
