Inishowen get fingers Lisburn-t

Lisburn 28 --- 12 Inishowen
1st December 2007

The Inishowen first team left the heavy downpours that hung over the Peninsula on Saturday behind them, and travelled to the relatively balmy environs of Lisburn to face a team that were currently lying in third position in the League.

Although Inishowen had comfortably beaten this team at the start of the season, there were very few opposition faces that were recognised at kick off, it was almost as if they were facing a different outfit altogether. This proved to be the case at kick off, with the home side setting out their stall from early on, the tempo of their game much higher than from any team in the league that Inishowen had faced thus far.

Inishowen, shocked into a reaction, responded well, using the boot of McCormick and McMenamin to good advantage, exploiting space in behind the Lisburn line with the aid of the first half wind that blew in their favour.

Winger Oliver McConelogue opened the scoring for Inishowen, just managing to avoid being forced out over the corner flag and grounding the ball for a try. This was followed by a try from Conor Mulkearns who received a quick tap penalty from Mark Glasha 5 metres from the Lisburn line.

Lisburn responded well from these setbacks by squeezing in a try of their own just on the half time.

The second half commenced with Inishowen now playing into the wind and finding the task hard going, often playing from deep in their own half, they struggled to put the phases together to enable them to punch their way out of their territory, and had to rely on clearance kicks to aid their relief. They were put under further pressure 10 minutes into the half when full back Paul McMenamin was sin binned and moments later McConelogue was forced to retire after sustaining an injury.

The remaining play saw Inishowen trying to plug the gaps against a now rampant Lisburn, who managed to make the most of their numerical advantage to run in three more tries to compound the Peninsula men’s misery. The final whistle bought to a close a game that Inishowen never really had in their grasp, especially in the second half, against a team that in reality were beatable. The result opens the door, though just a crack at the minute, to Inishowens rivals who envy them their place at the top of the league.