Ulster Junior League 4
Shorts 1st xv 0 ---29 Inishowen 1st xv
September 22nd 2007

Good Arial display at Shorts

Last weeks dismal line out display was long forgotten on Saturday as the Inishowen set piece came good much to the Peninsula men’s advantage. The movement, timing, lifting and jumping outfoxed the Belfast outfits at almost every turn; Matthew McCrossan using his athletic spring to good effect claimed everything that went his way, whilst his comrade Adrian McLaughlin soared in the air like a homesick angel to catch the high lobbed ball to gain good possession. Lineout thrower Brian Harkin who had spent the last week at the Jockey Wilson boot camp to improve his aim, found form to hit his lofty targets.

Indeed it was the lineout that was at the root of the first score. An Inishowen lineout in the opposition 22’ in the first 8 mins was won, the ball secured and spread wide to centre Conor Mulkearns, who broke the line, before passing out to full back Finn McCormick to touchdown, and he then duly converted to put the visitors 7 points up.

There then followed a 20 min period where Inishowen lost their shape somewhat, with errors creeping into their game, their discipline slipped, they were guilty of frustrating handling mistakes and poor communication which let the home team back into the game. The Shorts No. 10 punished Inishowen for their mistakes, his quick tap penalties and elusive running were a thorn in the peninsula men’s side, who were guilty at times of lazy defending.

Determined to get a grasp on the game, the Inishowen forwards were granted a chance to do just that when they were awarded a lineout 10m out from the Shorts try line. The catch set and drive proved too much for the defence to repel, No. 8 Pat Hayes breaking off the back to touch down for the 2nd try of the game after the pack got him to within striking distance with a solid drive. The conversion missed but Inishowen were 12-0 up.

The Inishowen backline were giving their opposition plenty of defensive work to do, good strong running lines saw them break through the cover on numerous occasions, stand off Mark McLaughlin was stopped just short of the line but left stranded through to poor support play by team mates. Wingers Oliver McConelogue and Shane McDaid both came close to scoring only to be denied by the narrowest of margins.

McCormick claimed the next points with a well struck pen, but this did little to settle the visitors who had been rather highly strung at times, with too many people having too much to say on every aspect of the game, much to the consternation of skipper Shaun Craig who demanded a more disciplined and focussed approach and read the riot act to his charges. This may be an aspect of their game that Inishowen may need to take a hard look at, if players are concentrating on chatting, they can hardly be concentrating on the job in hand, if they want to chat, the Joe Duffy Live line would be a more productive avenue!

That said, the final 20 mins saw Inishowen play the best rugby of the day, as they pressured Shorts deep in their own territory a move that went through several phases created a 3 man overlap to allow man of the match Pat Hayes to cross the line for his second of the day, this was not taken too well by the Shorts No 4 who came in late to challenge Hayes on the floor in a very questionable manner, the ref witnessing the act decided that it was an act of foul play and sent off the miscreant for an early bath.

Although the match was in the bag at this time, Inishowen were not content on running down the clock and the last few minutes of the game saw Steven Brown gather the ball in open play, beat three defenders to ground the ball under the posts. With the golden booted Finston McCormick there to round off his excellent kicking display with the conversion, Inishowen ended the game 29 points to nil.

After the game Club captain, Shaun Craig said, “The lads are happy with the second half performance. We calmed ourselves down & controlled some situations. That’s when we looked dangerous. Our lineout was fantastic today. When you win quality ball like that it’s easy to play rugby.”

Next week sees the first team at home to Colraine in what is sure to be a very competitive affair, kick off at the community school pitch will be at 2.30, all spectators are very welcome.