Saturday last marked the beginning of the exciting McCambley cup for ulster minor league teams. Tir Chonaill RFC hosted the high flying portadown 5ths from County Armagh.
From the offset the visitors showed they werent affected by their long journey by pressing the home side into there 22 from the kickoff.
Lineout after lineout and scrum after scrum the teams matched each other with ferocity in the tackles and no inch was given.
It was the away side who drew first blood when there clever number 8 dummied a pass in tir chonaills 10m line and sucked in a few players to run in alongside the posts and the try was converted to leave the away side 7-0 ahead after 20mins.
Tir Chonaill kept plugging away with some good attacks and recycling , then the referee blew for a player coming in from the side and awarded TC a penalty 25metres out. With strong cross winds centre Benny Mc Garvey slotted over the penalty to make the game 7-3 with 32 mins played.
Portadown knew they were in a game and continued to mount pressure on the TC pack ,from this Portadown picked and ran and the ref blew for a penalty and the away side extended their lead by 7 again to lead at the break 10-3..
Tir Chonaill were reminded at the break they had the beating of this side and were told to go out and win the game.
From the kickoff it was much the same from both sides,attack followed attack and with some great defensive work from the home side ball was knocked on by Portadown and ball was kicked into the corner. From then it was TC pressurising the away side with some great passing out wide.
Referee blew up for what deemed to be the away side not charging,a quick free kick was taken by Robert Wherley and he weaved through the defensive line to bring the score 10-8
From then on portadown threw everything but the kitchen sink at TC and they were camped between the 22 and 10m line for 15mins and the pressure was intense, Portadown knew by keeping the ball that time was drawing to a close, but when TC turned over the ball it was kicked up the field .From the resulting lineout Tir Chonaill won the ball and they attacked with all there might and were awarded a penalty for their hard work. Benny Mc Garvey pointed to the posts in a last ditch attempt to win the game.
From 30+metres out Benny steadied himself and hit a ferocious kick that just made it over the bar and no more .
A kick Jonny Sexton would of been proud of,the cheers from the sideline outlined the importance of what was just happening,Portadown sprinted to the half way line to try scramble a late win but it wasnt to be as the ball was cooly caught out of the air by fullback Caoimhin Ò Cuireàin and eventually the ball was kicked into touch to signal the end of one of the most hardest earned victories in their short history. A big team effort from Tir Chonaill.
Tir Chonaill would like to thank Portadown 5ths for their competitiveness and simply a great game of rugby.
Both sides headed to Duffys pub Annagry afterwards for the grub and a good few jars and the traditional boat race.
Big thanks goes to Lawerence Molloy and staff for their hospitality and continued support of Tir Chonaill RFC and long may the cup run last.
Next up for Tir Chonaill is a fierce local derby against letterkenny 2nds at home in Carrickfinn kickoff 2.30pm.
