High School made the long trek to Cavan for the final league game of the season confident of a win following the defeat of the home side earlier in the league programme. Conditions on the day were dry with a gusting wind travelling down the well drained Cavan pitch. High School arrived early having enlisted the assistance of the local Garda who escorted the bus to the Cavan ground for all the right reasons i.e we were lost !.   

A few changes in personnel saw Barry Taylor return from his South American travels via Miami to take up his normal full back position. Brian McGreal returned to the second row three stones lighter than when last in the engine room and Kyle Brown on his first bus trip covered the centre berth .   

The game got underway with High School facing into the strong wind. It was clear from the start that the Cavan side was stronger at home than when they travelled to Belfast . This was particularly evident in the first few scrums when the bigger and heavier Cavan pack pushed the High School eight of the ball on a couple of occasions. It was only through the good work of the back row combining with Jonny Mayne at scrum half than saw the ball secured and moved away to the backs. 

The first fifteen minutes of the game saw Cavan take the upper hand particularly up front. The lineouts were fairly even but with ball in hand the High School backs clearly had the edge on the opposition. Prolonged pressure during this period yielded nothing for the home side due to good defensive work and sound tackling . Prominent in this regard were Davy Hanna and Chris Kitchen who knocked back everything thrown at them. 

The first scoring opportunity came after 16 minutes when through concerted efforts up front High School got within range of the Cavan posts and were awarded a penalty by the referee who was having an excellent game in charge. Peter Taylor banged over the penalty to give High School the initial advantage. This was followed after 18 minutes by the dismissal to the sin bin of the Cavan number 14 who managed to trip Neil Hastings on his way to the line for a certain try . High School immediately took advantage of the situation and within 2 minutes had scored when Phil McKeown who was playing in the backrow for this game was driven over from a 5 metre lineout to secure the points. Pete Taylor converted well to give High School a comfortable lead.

High School were doing exceptionally well playing into the wind against the strong Cavan pack but the opposition were clearly not going to lie down and on 22 minutes they began to claw back the points through a penalty . This was followed with a converted try on 35 minutes which evened up the score . No further points were scored before half time and although it was all square High School were confident that a reasonable supply of ball in the second half would allow their backs to secure the victory.

HALF TIME        CAVAN  10   -   10   BHSFP

The second half got underway with High School taking the initiative and driving towards the Cavan line . The initial pressure did not yield any reward and Cavan pushed back towards the High School 22. At this stage High School were awarded a  penalty which Peter Taylor punted to the other end of the pitch to secure a 5 metre lineout. The standard catch and drive was employed to secure the ball and pressurise the Cavan defence. The maul moved to the centre of the pitch and when the ball was released to Jonny Mayne he deftly cruised through the Cavan defence for the points . The try was converted by Peter Taylor.     

At this stage it was clear the Cavan team were getting frustrated with their inability to apply decent attacking options .Their earlier domination of the scrum had been replaced with High School pressure and with the visitors holding sway in the lineout Cavan were unable to create any positive moves.The High School backline were now starting to click into gear and were causing havoc in the Cavan defence with ball in hand. Unseen work by John Balmer , Gareth McManus and others made sure the ball was made readily available and with Ben Hanvey, et al ,in the back row mopping everything up Cavan were having no joy. To compound matters the Cavan outhalf was yellow carded 7 minutes into the second half for foul play. 

The next points again fell to High School . The ball was being moved across the pitch in a period of loose handling. An over the shoulder pass from Brian McGreal saw the ball fall to Davy Hanna some 15 metres from the line and there was no stopping him . The try was again converted by Pete Taylor. 

The backs were now in charge of the game and it was only on occasions when the final pass went to ground or a wrong option was taken that a number of tries were not secured . Great defensive work by the entire backline was a feature of this game and with Jordon Frampton calling the shots Cavan were under serious pressure for most of the half and only occasionally were able to venture into the High School 22 to threaten the visiting teams line. 

The final points of the game came after 25 minutes when the ball was moved to Neil Hastings who up until this point had been unfortunate not to get an earlier try. On this occasion he received the ball in his own half and took off down the touchline closely watched by the visiting touch judge who correctly determined that he had remained in play despite the protests of the home team. With the covering defence left in his wake Neil touched down for the try, again converted by Peter Taylor. 

With the High School now well in the lead and the game effectively secured the pressure was off and the opportunity was taken to run the ball . All the backs were involved in the moves but unfortunately no further points were scored before the final whistle.

FINAL  SCORE        CAVAN   10    -    31   BHSFP

This was a good away result for High School who completed the league campaign on a high note with a finish in the top end of the table having gained promotion last season. This was the objective at the start of the season and under the control of Coach and player Davy Scott assisted by Derek Wilson the objective has been achieved. Team Captain Pete Taylor and the players can be justly satisfied with the seasons work.

Matters are not finished yet however as next week its Larne in the cup. It’s a home game so all supporters are welcome to Greenisland for the match.

Labor Ipse Voluptas.