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STRABANE 15 - 0 BALLYSHANNON | Mon 27th Feb 2006 | | Strabane progressed serenely to the quarter-finals of the Gordon West Cup with a fine win over old rivals Ballyshannon at Lifford Road on Saturday the 25th.
Team :
les twaddle, bob dillon ( c ), davy finlay, eddie mccrea, john graham, gordy baird, cricky hamilton, jason mitchell ( sub bert galbraith 20 ), jason mcknight, simon maxwell, ross smyth, simon mowbray, brian allen, stuarty thompson ( sub jimmy hamilton 65 ), john houston
strabane started this fixture with a much changed side from the victory over the peelers, with 4 men out of the starting 15, 2 new subs and 2 positional changes. our beloved skipper got injured at training on wednesday night and was insisting that as jimmy had nobbled him, he should go in to prop . he eventually saw sense and les was rewarded for all his hard work and commitment with a call up. soupy is still injured and greg was unable to get away from work and the bap-meister was in newcastle. club funds took a big hit this weekend, with paying to fly mcknight in and bap out . we also had the added excitement of our out-half, maxi, having to fly home from CHICAGO that morning, and the prayers for on-time flights were thankfully answered.
arriving at 1.30, i was surprised to see 5 of us already there and no sign of any ballyshannon players - only to be told that they were already changed and were down at the pitch warming up : no doubts now they weren't going to take the tie seriously. we got down to the pitch in good time and although the sun was shining, there was a blustery wind blowing diagonally across the pitch, which would make things more difficult than we would've liked. we kicked off towards strabane and played into the wind.
from the off, we immediately showed shannon that we meant business, but they also gave as good as they got and honours were even in the first quarter with very few opportunities for either team. we also had the loss of mitchy to contend with, his dodgy hamstring taking a battering during an attempted kick through, with bert (coming back from his own leg injury) replacing him. this meant another re-shuffle in the pack with john coming back to 8 and bert into his usual spot in the second row. but worst of all was the lack of a regular thrower for the lineout, with mal already out - step forward captain sensible , me. if i'd known of the large amount of doubt this caused on the touchline, i might have been a bit more nervous, but i didn't do so bad, but did stick to the easier to handle 4-man lineouts for the rest of the game.
the changes did, however seem to give us a kick up the arse and we started to get going forward well. mowbs was carrying the ball well back into the forwards and we were recycling quickly to release the rest of the piano bashers. we worked steadily towards the shannon whitewash, and maxi seemed to have got the all important opener when he laughed off his sleep depravation and the first couple of tacklers to lunge for the line. unfortunately there were still enough shanon men around to make the ref's decision unsure and he awarded us a 5 metre scrum. after more sustained pressure maxi had another forray over the line, but was indeed held up this time and shannon soon cleared their lines.
shanon then had a break of their own, when there big number 8 broke through in midfield and seemed sure to have a clear run to the line, but like a cheetah after a wouded gazelle, brian allen pounced out of nowhere and brought down his prey. the ever lively eddie was next in and did superbly to get his hands on the ball and force the penalty for not releasing, just 10 yards out in front of our posts . maxi wasn't too happy with hitting touch from the centre with the wind conditions as they were, so we drove it towards our right hand touchline and shannon infringed again and we were safe.
we were soon back in shannon territory and bert put in a rampaging run, having recovered his strenght from his ukranian travails . he was held up about 5 metres out and looked about to be turned over, but he dug in and roaring like a banshee he surged again and dived for the line, and looked to me like he got the ball on the line, but we were denied again and shannon had another go at us. they adjusted their tactics and started to chip over the solid defesive wall, and put us in trouble but mcknight did well to collect the ball as it headed for the line, but under close attention from the shannon attackers, he sliced his clearance over the dead ball line to give them a 5 metre scrum. they recycled a few times and then tried the chip again, and very nearly scored, but rossi was quickest to the ball and touched down for a relieving 22.
our turn again, and for the last 5 minutes of the half we battered the shannon line. we had a penalty in-front of the posts that should have seen maxi claim an easy 3 pointer, but we panicked slightly and ran it instead, but we still retained possession. we were finally awarded a penalty in the left hand corner, and as their no 8 was attended to after a knock to the head, we had time to plan our attack. we knew that we deserved a score and this was our last chance as the ref told us it was to be the last play of the half. mcknight dummied to tap into the pack on a charge in towards the posts, but mowbs had hidden behind us and took a sneaky path into the corner and managed to out-belly the cover for a super score. having done more carrying into contact in the last 40 mins than he'd done the rest of the season, he thought he was due a rest, and proceeded to take a well-earned lie down for the next few minutes. apparently valerie was seen in tears on the touchline at this point, but she claimed it was the strong wind, aaaaaaaaaaawwwww .
the conversion from the touchline was missed, but we'd played into the wind and were leading 5 -0 . in the halftime team talk we decided to play all the rugby in their half and use the wind to our advantage. the boys definitely had their tails up at this stage, but we knew that shannon were still dangerous and we had plenty of hard work to do.
it was nearly all strabane in the second half i'm very glad to report. we had a penalty opportunity on our right touchline almost immediately, but it just missed. the forwards were getting the upper hand and the lineouts were producing some great rolling mauls. the backs were enjoying the clean possession and were starting to look the part. from one lovely move the ball swept along the backline, with mcknight on a textbook loop taking the ball on to feed housty and then rossi came in off his wing to finish a classic piece of back play . the wind was still causing problems and the conversion was missed.
shannon did manage another breakaway, but this time mcknight was the hunter and the quarry was brought down before he could make the 22 and we again forced a penalty at the ruck . after this hiccup, we then produced numerous phases of rugby that stretched shannon to breaking and cricky had the pleasure of putting stuarty in for his first try - which i'm confident won't be his last. at 15 - 0 with only 20 minutes left we knew it would take a disaster to lose the game and the large crowd of over 40 began to enjoy the occasion more. after some more good play, bert was given a ball in space in the middle of the park, but he was too busy thinking of glory and knocked the ball on at least 10 times . this produced the biggest cheer of the day, but it was still smiles all round as we were enjoying the game, and the enticingly close victory.
at the lineouts, gordy was having a field day and was beginning to take a hand with his dancing at the lineout, and he even had big nige splitting his sides at his antics. he put their throw under severe pressure as well and they couldn't get clean possession at all. they tried throwing to the middle, but john was destroying them here as well. from one steal on their 22, we drove all the way to the line, which was 100% a score for the big man, but the ref couldn't see under the pile-up, but if he'd dragged everyone off, he'd have seen john guarding the ball like one of his best chickens guards a prize egg. from our scrum, jimmy hamilton nearly got in at the corner, but just hit the flag. on the last play of the game, shannon, to their credit, created a 4 on 2 overlap and looked certain to score but who was chasing back but chicago's finest, and his looming presence caused them to knock-on and the game was over .
this was an excellent victory, with the backs producing another great display and all the tries - us grunters will have to get back into the action in the next game . all the new lads stepped up magnificently and it was a true TEAM PERFORMANCE, but i must give special thanks to maxi for his effort in getting back thousands of miles to play his heart out. it's no wonder he's the only player to have been involved in every 1st XV match this season |
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