Randalstown 1st XV 19 Enniskillen 1st XV 19
Randalstown faced this clash against current league leaders Enniskillen with a little trepidation but with the benefit of hindsight will surely feel that in the end victory just slipped through their fingers as they looked the better team for the majority of the game.
The game got underway after a hasty re-jig of the back line to include Ben Winter as Johnston pulled up injured minutes before kick off and ‘Town were quickly out of the blocks to win an early penalty opportunity. Unfortunately the kick sailed just wide and the visitors came back from the restart to make their way deep into ‘town territory.
It was 20 minutes before the scoreboard was troubled as Enniskillen converted a penalty opportunity to nudge 3-0 ahead.
Shortly afterwards Michael Smith broke up the middle and chipped neatly over the approaching defence. McCann was quickly up to gather and he sprinted in out wide. The difficult conversion sailed wide. With half time in sight ‘Town conceded a silly penalty which proved kickable and the visitors turned round 6-5 ahead.
The start of the second half saw ‘Town convert two penalty opportunities to regain the lead. A great rumble up the middle spearheaded by D Millar took them within a yard of the line and some good work again by Smith left a fairly straightforward kick for O’Kane.
In the nip and tuck fashion that was the order of the day the visitors pulled level again with an unconverted try.
Despite being reduced to 14 men again courtesy of the ref’s yellow card ‘Town kept it tight and ended up with an attacking line out well inside the visitor’s 22. the ball was moved across the line where the waiting Niall McGlade was able to scamper over.
Enniskillen were able to take advantage of a further sin-binning to cross out wide in reply and it was all square again.
Michael Smith who enjoyed his best outing yet in a randalstown shirt, broke again and made good ground before he was dispossessed but it was done illegally and ‘Town had another penalty opportunity. O’Kane slotted over the kick to regain the lead.
‘Town now had the number advantage as two of the Enniskillen players were sinbinned, however they did the one thing they absolutely shouldnt have and conceded a very kickable penalty which the visitors duly converted to even the scores with the clock ticking down.
It was an entertaining encounter on a cold afternoon with heavy conditions underfoot and pleasing to the Randalstown support to see a glimpse of what they know this team is capable of.
Randalstown 3rd XV 31 Armoy 2nd XV 3
Randalstown 3rds came up against a hard tackling experienced Armoy outfit and were held out for the opening 20 minutes of the encounter until the significant pressure they had been exerting paid off. A great line out take by John McKay saw the pack drive over the line. They were held up but managed to get the ball away to Adie Johnston who slipped through the gap in defence to touch down. Shannon added the conversion.
Fowler then made a good break down the wing and found Shannon in support. He put in a grubber kick and Conor Ferry was able to sprint clear of the covering defence to win the race to touch down. Shannon again added the extras.
Just before half time Johnston broke from loose play on the half way line and outran the visitors defence to touch down for his 2nd try of the afternoon, taking ‘town into a 19-3 lead at the break.
Play was held up shortly after the restart as an Armoy player was injured. At this stage we have no update on the injury and all at Randalstown wish him a full and speedy recovery.
When play restarted ‘Town were well on top as they had a 2 man advantage on the opposition. From a tap penalty Upritchard made good ground and Paine was able to crash over for a try, again converted by Shannon.
In the last minutes of the match Loughlin put in an injection of pace and stretched the Armoy defence before Moon found a gap to squeeze through and round off the scoring.
Manager Devlin was delighted with his team’s first win following on from a creditable performance against Malone last week and felt it was both well deserved, and an indication of things to come.
Next Saturday the 1st XV are due to play Dungannon 2nds in the conference league, while the 2nds travel to Newry and the 3rd XV host Donaghadee. All kick off at 2.30 as usual and all support will be warmly welcomed.
