Randalstown 2nds also made the trip to Monaghan on Saturday and came home with the points. Despite the score line ‘Town were made to fight all the way against a dogged Monaghan side who refused to lie down. With skipper Hyndman in inspirational form however, and a slick performance by the back line ‘Town were always in the ascendancy.
They opened the scoring early in the match after a period of sustained pressure in the Monaghan 22. With McClenaghan and Montgomery both to the fore the ‘Town forwards couldn’t quite make the line, but when the ball was shipped out to the back line McWhirter cut through the depleted defence and McCann added a good conversion from out wide.
Shortly afterwards ‘Town returned to the Monaghan 22 and from a similar spell of pressure Willie Fleck squeezed in out in the corner after Harris had created space with a great decoy run. Again McCann added the difficult conversion.
Just before the interval ‘Town added a third try when Hyndman turned ball over on halfway and broke up the wing. A nice pass to Thom saw the centre close in on the line before off loading to Winter who finished off in the corner.
The start of the second half saw Monaghan have their only period of real pressure. Their forwards were held out several times by stout tackling in the ‘Town ranks before they eventually crashed over for a try.
Weather conditions worsened and an already heavy pitch became tough going so more and more errors crept into the game on both sides. Randalstown continued to dominate without troubling the scoreboard any further until the final 10 minutes when 2 breaks from their own half led to scores.
Dave Harris fielded a long clearance just inside his own 22 and set off at pace. Thom and Fleck were on hand to support the flanker and Fleck had the presence of mind to chip over the defender and win the race to touch down. McCann added the extras.
Finally in the closing minutes McWhirter got his hands on the ball around the 10 metre line and set off on a long run for the line leaving several tacklers trailing in his wake for a fine individual effort.
A fine all round performance from Randalstown in what may well have been their final outing of the season. Scrums were solid and good line out work from Nelson and Montgomery ensured the classy back line saw plenty of the ball. Another major factor in the win was Ricky Loughlin making it through the 80 minutes without conceding a penalty! Well done Ricky.
Team: McCann, W Fleck, Thom, McWhirter, Winter, Lyness, Turner, Loughlin, Sloane, Pedlow, McClenaghan, Nelson, Hyndman (Capt) Harris, Montgomery
