CAVAN 1st XV 13 RANDALSTOWN 1st XV 16
Sometimes you win well. Sometimes you win ugly. Amongst ugly wins this was as ugly as it gets.
Randalstown travelled to Cavan in good spirits and with high expectations taking a virtually full strength team to play a side that was undefeated at home since September. At their best Randalstown play a high octane running game but they arrived to find what is for them the worst possible playing conditions – a waterlogged gluepot of a pitch sloping to one corner and a howling Atlantic gale blowing straight down it. In these desperate conditions they found themselves confronted by a monster pack outweighing them by at least 80 kilos.
Notwithstanding the difficulties, Randalstown, with Dan Wilson prominent, started at their usual pace against the wind and for seven minutes gave an object lesson in how to play in these conditions, keeping the ball in hand, running hard and threatening at every moment to open the scoring. Then they turned over the ball. The Cavan outhalf, who clearly knew every puddle and every blade of grass on the pitch, lashed the ball into the heavens and when it eventually returned to earth inside the Randalstown twenty-two, Craig Coulter was unable to control it and conceded a penalty which was quickly tapped and run in with half the Randalstown team still on the wrong side of the ball. The outhalf converted in difficult conditions which ensured that until the ball finally split the uprights it was anyone’s guess where it was headed.
Two minutes later Blayne Megarry produced the only real piece of class in the match when he broke through the centre, sidestepped one or two covering tackles and then took a long time to mesmerise a full back that on a dry pitch he would simply have skinned. John O’Kane duly obliged with the simple conversion.
Ten minutes gone and that was the end of the rugby for the day. The ball was impossible to handle and the game degenerated into an impression of a bad English Premiership match with many turnovers, inconclusive wheeling scrums, one yard drives, mishandled passes and endless infringements. The Cavan outhalf kicked very well to the sloping corner but Simon Finlay threw magnificently in the conditions and Gary Hume dominated the front of the lineout on his own ball and harassed the Cavan thrower and front jumper into many mistakes on their throw. The Randalstown defence was as firm as ever and there was never any question of conceding another try but penalties were inevitable and Cavan converted two out of three to lead by thirteen points to six at the break. John O’Kane had one shot in the first half from directly in front on the twenty-two, which he would normally convert in his sleep. The ball was passing high between the posts when it was hit by an even stronger gust of wind and simply dropped like a stone.
The second half continued like the first. Cavan kicked better against the wind but they were never again going to pose a threat. O’Kane kicked a penalty after ten minutes and the Randalstown support relaxed and waited for the inevitable try to win the game. Ten minutes later they were still waiting as the match got more and more bogged down. Ten minutes later the score remained the same but the confidence was gone to be replaced by hope and prayer. Midway through the half Alex Fleck appeared to break a bone in his hand but had no intention of retiring and simply taped it and carried on. In the last minute of normal time Cavan conceded yet another penalty within kicking range and again O’Kane obliged to level the scores, which would probably have been a fair result on the day.
Sport, like life, however, is not always fair. The Randalstown pack and Paul Laverty at outhalf threw themselves forward in desperation and in the eighth minute of added time the man in the middle again raised his hand. Bring on O’Kane and the game is won! Unfortunately O’Kane was prostrate on the ground, dazed by a thunderous blow to the cheek bone. Team doctor, Willie Allen, worked frantically on him for a full five minutes, pouring water into and over him and eventually he was hauled shakily to his feet. Asked if he fancied the kick, he replied with a single word – “yes”.
The kick itself was the ugliest thing of an ugly match. Ostensibly simple, it never rose, crawled through the air and hopped lamely over the angle between the crossbar and the upright. It won the game.
In the whole game Randalstown were behind for seventy minutes and in front for thirty seconds. Fortunately they were the last thirty seconds. This team have been somewhat comeback kids in the last few outings which is indicative of a group of players who stick to their task until the final whistle blows and gain just reward in so doing and Coach Stevenson must take a lot of the credit for this attitude.
Next week the 1st XV are the only Randalstown side in action as they travel to Newforge to face PSNI in the league. All support will be gladly welcomed as this promises to be another tight encounter.
Ballymoney 4th XV 6 Randalstown 2nd XV 0
In equally windy conditions up in Ballymoney, albeit with firmer conditions underfoot the 2nd XV must again look at this as one that got away. Having lost narrowly to Ballymoney at Neillsbrook early in the season despite leading for most of the game Randalstown 2s should have fancied their chances against this Ballymoney side.
‘Town however got off to a poor start unable to string together passes or cohesive movements and not taking the extremely windy conditions into account. Further hampered by the loss of prop Pedlow with a knee injury 10 minutes in they found themselves on the wrong side of 2 converted penalties with about 20 minutes on the clock. Stern words from captain Hyndman seemed to galvanise his men and despite the player disadvantage they started to set about their task. Taking inspiration from experienced centre Adie Johnston on how to cope with the conditions the first useful break came from scrum half McWhirter as he raced down the pitch only to be held up just short. While the support arrived they had given the Ballymoney defence time to regroup and were unable to break through.
Then ‘Town suffered a further blow when prop Hamilton had to retire from the fray with a shoulder injury reducing them now to 13 men. With Ballymoney holding a considerable weight advantage in the pack against the full complement of Randalstown players it was a considerable blow to the visitors to be 2 forwards down with half the game still to play.
The ‘Town men however took to their task with renewed enthusiasm and pinned Ballymoney pretty much in their own half for most of the second half of the game. Peter McCann gathered many high balls punted down almost in desperation from Ballymoney and counterattacked well with Adam Boyd but Ballymoney were able to make the extra bodies count in defence to keep ‘Town out. Boyd was particularly unlucky as he set off on a long run in similar fashion to McWhirter in the first half but a moment’s hesitation allowed the home defence to align themselves and keep him out.
Manager Sloane was frustrated by the end result but was impressed by the way the 13 men took the home side on for the majority of the match and looked the more likely to score during this time.
The 2nds have a break next Saturday before entertaining Dungannon 4s at Neillsbrook in the next round of the Forster Cup the following Saturday.
