Enniskillen 36-0 Omagh
Enniskillen Ladies traveled to Omagh Ladies on Saturday evening past in a game that was played in testing weather conditions, with low temperatures, sleet and snow throughout. This was the second encounter between the two teams and Skins ladies were determined to continue their unbeaten run in the league this season. Skins kicked off into Omagh’s half showing intent and applying pressure from from the start. Skins carried out a few strong phases of play before an infringement at the ruck resulted in an Enniskillen scrum; the Skins pack put on severe pressure on the opposition scrum allowing Leona Connolly to pick and go from the tail and break through the line to score the first try, which was converted by out half Louise Thompson.
From the restart skins continued to dominate the field hitting hard lines and putting pressure on the Omagh defence. After a sweeping phase of play from the right to the left Ashling Maguire was tackled but managed to pop a beautiful pass to the supporting Shauna McMorrow who offloaded the ball to Alice Hurst to touch down in the corner for Skins’ 2nd try, again converted by the in form boot of Louise Thompson. Skins continued in the same vein of dominance and with some great forward runs from Leona Connolly, Sarah Teague and Ashling Maguire, the latter got her just rewards as she stormed over a number of desperate Omagh players to score Enniskillen’s 3rd try. Skins’ defence then began to lapse for a short period allowing Omagh to attack the line and make some positive ground. After weathering the storm Skins focused their defence and managed to recapture the ascendency they displayed at the start of the game, forcing Omagh to knock on the ball in their own 22’ and allowing the Skins pack a dominant scrum, resulting in clean ball for scrum half Noreen Nethercott who shifted the ball through the hands all the way to Alice Hurst on the wing to touch down for her 2nd of the night and Enniskillen’s fourth try, converted by Thompson for her third of the evening. With a solid lead the ladies were determined not to lose the ascendency and after several phases of play centre Nikki McSherry managed to break the defensive line and score another try to end the first half.
Skins appeared to lose a bit of momentum at the start of the second half and allowed Omagh to play a lot of rugby inside Enniskillen’s 22’. However feeling the pressure Skins picked up the pace and with good rucking from forwards Clare Brogan and Alanna May Linden disrupting the Omagh attack, a knock-on and a scrum for Skins gave them the opportunity to regain possession. From this Skins battered the Omagh defence, with the forwards hitting hard lines and breaking the gain line repeatedly. Continuing to gain territory Skins restarted with the back line looking sharp and eventually Alice Hurst broke the line and ran the length of the pitch through several Omagh players before she jinked her way past the last 3 to touch down in the corner for what has to be the try of the season so far. Unfortunately Omagh’s efforts at stopping Hurst resulted in one player gaining an injury and being forced to leave the pitch, leaving Omagh with depleted numbers and as the weather continued to worsen the the game was blown up early. Enniskillen continue to train on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm. Follow us on our Facebook page ‘Enniskillen Ladies Rugby’ for more information.
