While Randalstown were in confident mood for this home fixture against Grosvenor on the back of some decent results there was a duck waiting to be broken. On an afternoon which descended into something akin to Gorilla’s in the mist the home support were treated to double victories as the 1st XV dispatched Grosvenor 17-0 while the 2nd XV, who finished with 12 men on the park, overcame Lurgan 2nds with relative ease 36 -7.
The afternoon kicked off with a well attended pre-match lunch and Randalstown were pleased to welcome the Mayor and a couple of his council colleagues.
Then it came down to the important business of the afternoon. ‘Town played up the hill in the first half and in fairly dismal conditions the opening 7 or 8 minutes was played out within both 10 yard lines neither side able to gain control. Then disaster struck as centre Montgomery turned badly on his ankle and had to retire. In view of the opening exchanges this was a worrying time for the ‘town faithful. Grosvenor recognised that the home side had lost a pivotal man and took full advantage during the next 10 minutes while the ‘town defence reorganised themselves.
The defence is worthy of special mention at this point as they defended stoutly in their 5 yard area for what seemed like an eternity. Gary Hume, Dan Wilson and Scott McClenaghan caught the eye with some immense tackles and they succeeded in unnerving the opposition sufficiently to keep the scoreboard clear.
After 25 minutes ‘Town broke from nothing up the middle of the pitch. Bailey linked well with Hume, Jamesy Millar and Wilson and thankfully they had the presence of mind to get the ball to a man who can undoubtedly finish – step up Daryl McGarry. It looked very much as though he had been brought down a couple of feet short but he had the strength and determination to get over below the posts leaving the conversion a formality for John O’Kane. This was O’Kane’s first outing, now recovered from a broken hand and his experience at the base of the scrum was a boost to Randalstown.
The score certainly geed the ‘Town men up and they made several advances into the visitor’s territory. A series of penalties should have seen them increase the lead but O’Kane was a little ring rusty and he slightly miscued a penalty opportunity. He quickly made amends however early in the second half and slotted over the next kickable opportunity to stretch the lead to 10-0. That followed some great work by Michael Smith as he put up a couple of high balls and chased effectively forcing the visitors defence to concede.
By this stage the mists were descending and on came the floodlights – who would have thought it?
A long period of play between the 22s where neither side really threatened was brightened in the glare of phosphorous by a great break down the left flank from out half Bailie. He had Blayne McGarry in support, who in turn had young brother Daryl on his shoulder and, as previously alluded to, that young man can finish a move and finish he did far out on the left flank. To the delight of the crowd O’Kane slotted over the tricky conversion.
That about wrapped it up as far as the scoreboard was concerned and Randalstown were delighted to record a first victory against Grosvenor. When influential and experienced centre Montgomery was forced to retire in the opening 10 minutes it could have been a very different story, but full credit to the boys they were heroic in defence to hold Grosvenor out and eventually the class and pace in the back line showed its’ worth.
This league is wide open with the exception possibly of Ballyclare who are on a real winning streak. Most of those on duty this afternoon experienced the highs lows and near misses of last season and have obviously worked extremely hard during pre-season and weekly training sessions to maximise fitness and improve skill levels. Hopefully that work ethos will continue as the season progresses and the ‘Town outfit will fix that very creaky scrum. Captain Adair was rightly delighted with the result which keeps them in the right half of the league.
Team: M Smith B McGarry W Montgomery D McGarry E Crawford R Bailey J O’Kane J Adair J Millar G Hume S McClenaghan P Knowles D Wilson I Hume L Hurrell.
Randalstown 2nd XV 36 Lurgan 2nd XV 7
The seconds bounced back from their defeat at the hands of Ballymena a couple of weeks ago to win comfortably against Lurgan on Saturday afternoon.
With the visitors only fielding 14 men ‘Town were quickly on top and on the scoreboard in the opening minutes. Veteran Dave Harris, returning to the 2nds for the first time this season, drove hard from a free kick and when the ball was recycled Jamie Orr created space for fellow centre Tony Boyd to finish off.
Then Ryan McGarry, venturing in off his wing to help his forwards, came away with the ball and broke into the middle of the field. The ever present Harris was on his shoulder to receive the pass and he powered home from the Lurgan 10 metre line. Turner added the extras.
Numbers were evened up before half time when prop Simon Adams retired with an injury leaving scrums uncontested. This gave Lurgan an opportunity to get better in to the game and they used their heavy pack to good effect.
5 minutes before half time, against the run of play ‘Town scored again. A lazy clearance was followed up by Harris who dribbled from the 22 and fell on the ball to push the score to 17-0. The home defence was superb immediately following this effort driving the Lurgan side off their line. However just as the half ended ‘Town were further reduced to 13 men as centre Orr had to retire having lost a tooth.
Despite this blow Randalstown started the second half strongly scoring a further 3 tries in 15 minutes. Firstly after a turn over on the Lurgan 22 Ben Winter took the ball on and made his way to the visitors’ 10 metre line. From the ensuing ruck Turner picked up and sneaked over in the corner. He added the difficult conversion.
Good hands by the ‘Town backs saw the ball come to Ryan McGarry who chipped over the defence and opposite winger Wille Fleck won the race to touch down.
The home side continued to dominate and after good work by Paine, Boyd and McGarry the ball came across the line to Harris who, despite having 2 men outside him, stepped inside splitting the defence and touched down under the posts. Turner added the extras.
Randalstown failed to add to their total further after this despite a fine performance in the lineouts from Hyndman and Goodrich, providing a steady stream of possession. Lurgan got a well deserved late try as the fog rolled in to finish off the game.
This was a fair performance from ‘Town with a big defensive display from Ferry, Goodrich and Paine in particular. Harris however was the stand out performer of the afternoon to mark his return to the 2nds.
Team: B Winter W Fleck T Boyd J Orr R McGarry M Turner C McGlade S Adams B Hamilton M Hamilton S Hyndman C Ferry M Paine S Goodrich D Harris
Rainey 4s 46 Randalstown 3s 10
The 3rds travelled to Rainey for that all too rare thing nowadays – a friendly. Manager Devlin was keen to look at all options as the 3rds prepare for home games in the next couple of weeks against Larne in the league and Finn Valley in the cup.
He had a number of regulars missing on Saturday but used the opportunity to give local lad John Allen his debut and work on some alternative position options. Allen had a solid debut performing well first at centre and then at flanker to show great versatility. Scott Snow was introduced at scrum half and also turned in a star performance.
The forwards in general led by a rampaging Thomas McCloskey, who had an awesome game at 8, and James ‘Noodles’ Clyde gave the Rainey pack a torrid time. The team with so many changes were slow to gell otherwise the match would have finished much closer. A try either side of half time from Joe Cross and Clyde gave the ‘Town lads some encouragement however.
Devlin was pleased by the efforts noting the solid performances by Joyce and Paine. Bishop did well in the lineouts and Andrew Sloane made a pleasing comeback in the centre.
