It was a day of mixed fortunes for Randalstown. At Neillsbrook the U15s and U13s secured their places in the respective finals of the competitions they are involved in while the U17s were narrowly defeated by a strong Monaghan outfit. The Under 15s will now face Carrick at Ravenhill on 4th May.
Later in the day the 3rd XV recorded a narrow victory over Larne 3rds in a sound reverse having been defeated at Larne earlier in the year.
Meanwhile the 2nds had a disappointing trip to Hamilton Park where they took on Ards 3s.
Ards 3s 20 Randalstown 2nds 15
Needing a win to give them a chance to pip their opponents to 2nd spot in Junior 5 Randalstown were disappointed to go down in a close contest. This coupled with an earlier defeat at the hands of Armagh 3rds early in the season leaves Sammy Hyndman’s side the 3rd place spot to aim at with only 2 games now remaining.
‘Town soaked up some early Ards pressure before starting to use the strong breeze to their advantage, kicking long into their opponents corner. On six minutes Matty Turner popped over a penalty to open the scoring. Five minutes later however Ards hit back with a breakaway try. Securing good 2nd phase ball on the halfway they moved it swiftly to the wing and the winger and full back combined well to out flank the ‘Town defence. ‘Town however continued to dominate possession, but were encountering a solid well organised defence. Eventually with 25 minutes played Cathcart took a quick penalty on the home 22. Linking with full back Bailey they caught Ards on the hop and Paine carried on the move before offloading superbly from a tackle to put Bailey in for a score and ‘Town back in front.
The remaining period of the first half saw a change in momentum, with the home side getting on top and exerting a lot of pressure in the ‘Town 22. To make matters worse ‘Town lost hooker Loughlin to injury. The diagnosis on the touchline from ‘Dr Sloane and nurse Slack’ appeared to be a little wide of the mark. It seems that Loughlin’s season has ended a little prematurely as he has suffered 2 fractured ribs. Nurse Slack in particular couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about as ‘he has plenty of other ribs that there is nothing wrong with’
It was however a bitter blow for ‘Town to lose Loughlin’s accuracy in the lineout and ergo ‘Town possession.
On the stroke of half time Ards scrambled over in the corner for a second score to take a half time lead 10-8.
Ards started the second half with a bang returning the ‘Town kick off with interest and almost scoring from the restart. This early pressure paid off with a penalty in the end to stretch their lead.
The action continued mostly in the middle of the field before Ards lost their second row to the sin bin. With numbers even ‘town seized the initiative and applied a sustained spell of pressure in the home 22. A series of penalties eventually paid off just before Ards were restored to their full complement. After a number of charges at the line it was skipper Sammy Hyndman who picked up at the base of a ruck and dived over to give Turner an easy conversion and ‘town a slender lead.
Randalstown now seemed to be on course for a win as the clock ticked down, but their possession was only meeting with stern defence. A neat chip through from Turner cut out much of this aforementioned defence but unfortunately just bounced over the advancing McWhirter and into Ards hands. They broke away to record the decisive score. A fine conversion stretched the advantage to 5 points. Despite a valiant effort from ‘town running everything in the dying minutes the Ards defence held strong.
Given space on the day the ‘town back 3 of Crawford, Bailey and McGlade were always a threat and manager Sloane picked out Hume, Goodrich and Paine in the pack as they worked like Trojans in defence and attack.
Randalstown 3rds 13 Larne 3rds 12
This was a tight encounter at Neillsbrook against a solid Larne outfit but well deserved for the ‘Town 3rds. They enjoyed the majority of possession in the opening exchanges and eventually Joe Cross cut loose up the middle. He was stopped agonisingly short of the line but his Under 19 team mate Nathan Storer was up in support and was able to scramble over.
It went end to end for the next twenty minutes until Larne got a converted try having threatened the ‘Town lines for a period of time. The visitors kept up the pressure and breached the line again to stretch the lead to 12 – 5.
From the restart this time however Randalstown took control through Conor Ferry and he raced over to narrow the gap to 12-10. Just before half time they probably should have nipped into the lead after a quickly taken penalty saw Hodges make ground. He was supported by the solid units of Paine and McClenaghan, the latter bullocking through the Larne defence, and in particular their number 11, but no points were forthcoming for the endeavour.
The second half continued nip and tuck without the scoreboard being further troubled until eventually ‘Town were awarded a penalty in a very kickable position. Thankfully Johnston found his range this time and slotted it over to nudge his side into a 13-12 lead, which was to prove enough.
‘Town held on grimly until relief came in the form of the final whistle and they were delighted to round off their season with a win. It was not without it’s downside however as Conceiaco had to retire from the fray injured almost immediately the game started and he was followed later by young Storer and veteran Martin Asquith. To their credit the 3rds did not allow the disruption to deflect them from their task and David Asquith, young Hugh Bishop and Gary Paine proved able deputies.
McClenaghan back in his more accustomed role in the front row had his usual abrasive game running some good angles and gaining territory. He was well supported by Hodges and McClean around the park all afternoon. Joe Cross again showed up well in the back line and Andrew Sloane had a fine day in attack and defence. Having been unlucky not to score in the early exchanges he can take credit for a couple of try saving tackles.
