Dungannon continued their good start to the season on Saturday at an away match against Malone at Gibson Park. A highly competitive match which provided much entertainment involving tries, excellent tackling good running rugby and some creative passes by both sides. Malone fought with passion but in the end Dungannon rightly deserved their victory.
Malone started off the stronger in front of a good sized and passionate home crowd, with Malones prop David Halliday taking full advantage of Dungannons lapse of concentration, scoring the first try.
Dungannon kept up the pressure with some excellent passing and Michael Lawton was just wide with a well struck penalty, were soon rewarded with the try of the match. Conor Gaston caught a high kick outside his own ten metre line, before out pacing a couple more and touching down beside the posts. Michael made no mistake with conversion on twenty-seven minutes.
Dungannon now had the edge by one point and despite a couple of handling errors Dungannon dominated with Glen Telford showing his quality. Then Malone came back into the game and really pressed Dungannon with some good driving. Dungannon held their line and showed good discipline. Eventually Malone infringed and Gannon cleared their line. A break by Michael Kirkwood carried on by Stuart McKenzie and Michael Rainey brought play into the Malone half. Then a great lineout steal by Aaron Fry was not wasted by Dungannon, a beautiful Telford break saw Paul Magee and Stuart Lester feed Conor Gaston who raced over on forty minutes. Lawton again converted.
The second half started well for Dungannon and when Malone were penalised following a McKenzie break Michael Lawton converted the penalty in the forty-third minute.
Following some good work by the Gannon pack Michael Lawton burst through to score close to the posts after forty-six minutes. Michael also converted the try.
11 – 29
Four minutes later more good team work from Dungannon saw Stuart Lester touch down beside the posts for a try again converted by Lawton.
11 – 36
Malone got some reward for their work in the pack when flanker Ricky McCullough drove over for the try converted by Josh Pentland after fifty three minutes.
18-36
After those few minutes of try scoring things settled down for a period although Dungannon kept the pressure on Malone. Gannon were rewarded for their efforts when following a counter attack Stuart Lester off loaded to Dungannons flying hooker Adam Duhig. With plenty to do and two Malone men in close proximity the hooker pinned back his ears and raced fully forty metres to touchdown in the corner for a fine try.
18- 41
This was another good performance from Dungannon with the whole twenty performing well and the ball handling and ability to off load in contact being particularly impressive.
Squad: Conor Gaston. Stuart Lester, Paul Magee, Glen Telford, Michael Lawton. Kieran Campbell, Michael Kirkwood. Steven Sinnamon, Adam Duhig, Mark Farquhar, Aaron Fry, Michael Rainey. Stuart McKenzie, Mark Riddell, Timothy Smith. Ben Howard, Ali Birch, Jason Bloomfield, Ethan Allen, Scott Browne.
Referee: Mark Patton (Academy)
Scorers:-
Tries: Michael Lawton (2), Conor Gaston (2), Stuart Lester & Adam Duhig
Cons: Michael Lawton (4)
Pen: Michael Lawton
Drop Goal:
Saturday 4 September 2010
2 XV League
Malone II 7 Dungannon II 26
Dungannon Seconds made it an on the road double when they outscored their Malone counterparts 24-7 in an early kick off at Gibson Park on Saturday. The home side fielded a big strong pack and out on the wing they had the evergreen former international, Maurice Field. However, it was Dungannon’s fleet footed pairing of Gareth McGonigle and Scott Browne that made the difference in a difficult rain sodden encounter. That said the visitors relied on their midfield duo to give them a 12-0 lead at the break. Darren Simpson burst through for the first try converted by Browne with fellow centre Gareth Graham touching down for the second. During the third quarter Malone pulled themselves back into the game with a converted try. However, their attempts to run the ball from defence allowed Brian Simpson to take advantage and he raced in on 65 minutes. Browne added the extras for a 19-7 lead. In the closing stages Browne sealed the issue with a fine solo effort. Dungannon Coach, Mark Henderson was pleased with this opening league win saying,
“I told the boys that we wanted to start the way in which we finished last season. Malone fielded a strong pack but our forwards fronted up well. Overall though, it was a good all round team performance and it was good to start the league campaign with a win”
Team: Alan Cummings, Ryan O’Neil, Darren Simpson, Gareth Graham, Brian Simpson, Scott Browne, Gareth McGonigle, Ben Howard, Philip Whyte, Hugh Flanagan, Lorcan Martin, Declan Treanor, Daryl Marshall, Jeremy Turkington, Andrew Caddoo.
Referee: Oisin Quinn (Rainey)
Scorers:-
Tries: Darren Simpson, Gareth Graham, Brian Simpson, & Scott Browne
Cons: Scott Browne (3)
Pen:
Drop Goal:
Saturday 4 September 2010
Junior League Section 2
Dungannon III 25 Lisburn II 0
A good win for the IIIs against Lisburn but as one of the players said,” It wasn’t that there was plenty left in the tank. It was a case of the fuel injection system spluttered into life occasionally,” Richard Homes commented that the team did well but it could have been so much better with a bit more training.
On a wet and miserable afternoon Dungannon took the lead when hooker Alastar McFarland drove over to score in the corner.
5 – 0
Fly half Jonny Patton, who had an immaculate day with the boot, converted two penalties to give Gannon a bit of breathing space.
11 – 0
Dungannon were first to score in the third quarter when after Jonny Patton was grounded by a Lisburn tackle Flanker Smith was on hand to take the ball on and touch down for the try. Jonny Patton converted.
18 – 0
With Keith Blevins and Chris Holland getting good possession from the line outs Dungannon were able to get quick ball but Lisburn were keeping up the pressure in scrums and mauls. Dungannon finally sealed the win when livewire hooker Alastar McFarland benefited from a brilliant Chris Blair run to burst over for a try converted by Jonny Patton.
25 – 0
This was good start to the season for the boys and skipper Christopher Holland was pleased with the win but admitted that the team was very rusty and with a bit of effort could do much much better.
Team: Ryan Ferry, Jonathan Clarke, Geoffrey Blair, Jason Ferry, Christopher Blair, Jonny Patton, Julian Knipe, Gareth McMullan, Alastar McFarland, Kyle Thompson, Robin McCleary, Keith Blevins, Jonathan Smith, Gary Martin, Christopher Holland (Capt)
Referee: Stephen McConkey
Scorers:-
Tries: Jonathan Smith (2) & Alastar McFarland.
Cons: Jonathan Patton (2)
Pen: Jonathan Patton (2)
Drop Goal:
