Having already secured pole position in Qualifying 3 Randalstown 1st XV were hoping to finish on a high when they entertained Newry at Neillsbrook on Saturday afternoon.
The scoreline was a fair reflection of the game, although Newry’s kick high and hope tactic kept ‘Town pinned in their own half for large chunks of the game.
There was an early score on the door for the home team courtesy of David Goodrich which was converted by O’Kane and the red and white machine was up and running. Laverty put in a long kick to take them within 5 yards of the Newry line but while the visiting line-out held firm they could only clear to the 10 m mark and hand line out advantage back to ‘town. They then conceded a penalty which O’Kane slotted over.
The next score came from flying winger Paul Morriss from the cheekiest of moves. Newry knocked on and the ref played advantage as Hume and Laverty scrambled to secure the loose ball. Morriss came up behind Laverty and smuggled away the ball so deftly that he was half way down the pitch before the Newry defence realised he had the ball in hand. There was nobody at home for Newry in defence and Morriss was able to cut inside and touch down under the posts leaving O’Kane a straightforward conversion.
O’Kane then had a further penalty opportunity when Laverty somehow came up with the ball after the visitors had taken one against the head. James Millar in support attempted to chip through and Daryl McGarry deftly gathered the charge down only to be stopped short, illegally so according to the ref, and O’Kane coolly slotted over the penalty.
Newry’s defence ensured that the scoreboard remained untroubled for the next while until Foster broke up the middle and they were penalised for hands in the ensuing ruck. O’Kane opted for the points with a long range effort.
With half time approaching ‘Town were putting all the pressure on and again Foster broke the line and produced a great off-load to O’Kane who sprinted in for a well deserved try which he then converted to stretch the half time lead to 30 – 0.
After the turn around Randalstown continued to attack but the visiting defence kept them at bay for a long time. The high balls they hoisted back down the pitch were dealt with efficiently by Jamie Barron making his senior debut at full back but when the ball went loose the hard ground was causing some unpredictable high bounces which frustrated several opportunities.
Eventually after Morriss again made good ground up the left only to be stopped by a try saving tackle coming from a misguided spectator in the form of Dr Stewart a ‘Town scrum saw Wilson emerge with the ball and pop to O’Kane who jinked through to bag his second try of the afternoon.
Wilson was then the instigator of the final sortee when he peeled off the base of another scrum made a few yards and found Hume in support out wide. Hume’s strength and determination saw him cross the line for a well deserved score.
Once again there was no easy decision for man of the match. John O’Kane’s accuracy with the boot has been supreme all season and today was no exception. Paul Laverty had a fine game at number 10 always keeping his forwards going forward with some astute kicking out of hand. Gary Hume’s defence is outstanding and his work in the line-outs invaluable. Young Jamie Barron handled the high balls well and looked dangerous on the counter attack. The nod today eventually went to Daryl McGarry who narrowly missed out last week and who caught the eye all over the park on Saturday in defence and attack.
