The clash between Rainey Old Boys and Skerries at Hatrick Park had a bizarre ending with three Rainey forwards shown the yellow card in the closing minutes.But they held on for a 26-12 victory and now have a six point lead over Barnhall who have ousted Naas from second place.While Rainey should have had a bonus point,having led 26-0 after 43 minutes,they can take a lot of positives from the first hour of the game.As a series of switches caused them to lose their focus in the last quarter,Skerries,back in the AIL after a six year absence,took advantage to show that they could play good rugby if allowed to do so. Click HERE for ROBRFC club website
Stephen Rutledge was fit to resume at loose-head for Rainey who brought in Michael Pyper at scrum-half in the absence of Alan Mc Cluggage.And in his first game for three months,the ex. Queen’s man settled in quickly to show what a useful player he really is.Skerries were without out-half Keane and found themselves on the receiving end right from the start as Rainey out-half Martin charged down a kick and hacked downfield where they kept the pressure on to earn a penalty which O’Connor kicked.A very focused Rainey side looked razor-sharp in every department and second-row Barker won off-the-top ball for Martin to storm straight through and send centre Simpson away for a great try at the posts.
While the east coast visitors moved the ball well when they had it,they got no change out of an excellent home defence.They missed a kick at goal before O’Connor showed them how it should be done.A lovely try after 25 minutes left Rainey in a strong position.Following a high clearance,Simpson and Rutledge closed in on the fielder to regain possession and when play moved acrossfield,wing Campbell took a pass from O’Connor to cut inside the last line of defence and streak clear.They defended resolutely when Skerries drove at their line and swept to the other end where No.8 Mc Gowan popped up yet again to keep them on the front foot.The forwards managed to hack through a lineout and win a penalty in front of the posts,leaving O’Connor a simple task to make it 21-0.Skerries had a player sin-binned for his transgression.Right on half-time,O’Connor saw an attempt from over sixty yards fall just short.
With an extra man up front,Rainey went for the jugular and after hammering away at close range,they moved it out for Simpson to find an inviting gap.Flanker Heaney broke from a lineout with Mc Gowan on his shoulder and should have had a penalty before a lovely kick into space from Pyper had Skerries in further trouble.Some excellent work at close range from Harbinson and Heaney kept Rainey well in control until their intensity dropped in the last twenty minutes.Skerries ran in a good try before Harbinson was sidelined after 72 minutes.Barker and Burns also saw yellow on the advice of the touch judges and Skerries scored again.The Leinster men then had a scrum right in front of the Rainey posts,but failed to make it count and were thwarted again in the last play of the game by some tigerish tackling.
TEAM : M.O’Connor,A.Campbell,S.Simpson,D.Mc Murray,A.Clarke,G.Martin,M.Pyper,S.Rutledge,S.Sufferin,N.O’Kane,T.Barker,M.Shiels,A.Harbinson,P.Mc Gowan,P.Heaney.
REPLACEMENTS : P.Boyle ( O’Kane 62 ) K.Donaghy ( Sufferin 62 ) M.Mc Clelland ( Simpson 70 ) T.Burns ( Mcc Gowan 70 ) D.Dawson ( Shiels 75 )
Division 2 B results – Ards 38-31 Navan Armagh 28 – 13 Naas Clonakilty 9-0 Instonians Nenagh 18-16 Boyne Barnhall 44-12 Connemara Sunday’s Well 18-18 Sligo Suttonians 20-25 Thomond
Crawford Cup quarter-final at Mullaghmeen : Enniskillen 2 52-12 Rainey O.B. 3 ( Dillon and Mc Kenna tries,Moran 1 conversion)
FIXTURES for March 2. 1st XV v NAVAN away 3rd XV v Instonians 3 away 4th XV v Strabane 2 away
