Monaghan RFC were welcomed to the club on Saturday 25
February for the first round of the Gordon West Cup. As heating had been restored at the club, the match was
played at Greenisland, rather than the school.
There were four main changes to the side which had turned out
against PSNI the previous week: Chris
Kitchen, Stephen Morton,
Johnny Price and Derek Wilson were replaced by David Mayne, making a
welcome return from injury, Greg Elliott, Paul Lavery and Gareth Adams
respectively. Johnny Terrett was first reserve, but owing to late
notification regarding the necessity for reserve front row cover, he was
unfortunately stood down in favour of Ian Elliott.
Notwithstanding the absence of some club alickadoos
in Dublin, a large crowd of supporters was present to cheer the team on.
Whilst ground conditions were good, a raw, biting wind from the
north east corner had the potential to determine the shape and pattern of
the game. BHS kicked off into
the wind, but for nearly ten minutes Monaghan enjoyed the balance of
territorial advantage. An
opening for BHS then presented itself with a long cross kick ahead by Neil
Hastings which Monaghan were obliged to carry over and touch down. However Monaghan won the subsequent scrum and BHS left the
Monaghan 22 without recording any points.
Fifteen minutes into the game Tim Murphy opened up
the Monaghan defence, dummying with two shows of the ball before
offloading to Johnny Mayne whose fancy footwork deservedly earned BHS
their first score. The try
was converted by Tim Murphy to make the score 7-0 in the School's
favour.
Five minutes later BHS won a scrum against the head
near the half-way line. David
Mayne took the ball in a wide arc, exploding down the touchline. His efforts were frustrated by Monaghan who succeeded in
nudging him into touch on the five metre line before he could offload to
his support inside. The
lineout that followed was won by BHS and a powerful forward drive enabled
Paul Shaw to cross the line and make the score 12-0.
The conversion was missed.
On twenty-five minutes, there was some concern when
Andy Morrison went down injured in the BHS half.
However supporters’ nerves were calmed when he elected to play
on. Two minutes later
Monaghan were awarded a penalty and when BHS were marched back an extra 10
metres three points were on offer. Monaghan
duly slotted the ball through the uprights and the score now stood at
12-3.
Some assured forward handling thirty minutes into the
game provided a second major opportunity for David Mayne to break free. Once
again, a foot in touch denied him an otherwise certain try.
Playing into a strong wind, BHS could not afford to
ignore the threat from Monaghan. On
thirty-two minutes Monaghan penetrated the BHS defence but a seemingly
certain try was denied by superb tackling by Phil McKeown.
Coming up to half-time it was to be third time lucky
for David Mayne. Powerful
running by Paul Shaw, coupled with effective forward support ensured quick
ruck ball. David ran from his
own 10 metre line, and needed to side step only one Monaghan player before
scoring near the posts. Tim
Murphy duly converted to make the score
19-3 at the half-time whistle.
In the second half there was speculation amongst the
spectators on whether BHS would seek to exploit the wind advantage and
endeavour to pin Monaghan down in their 22; however the team continued to
play its open, expansive game. 10
minutes into the half, consistent pressure by the side allowed Tim Murphy
to score in the corner. With
the conversion missed, the score was now 24-3.
Two minutes later, both Peter Taylor and a Monaghan
player were yellow-carded. Gareth
MacManus switched to prop and Ian Elliott came on as hooker.
Monaghan appeared to recover quickly from this
setback and for the next three minutes applied concerted pressure to the
BHS lines. The ‘thin blue
line’ defence did not allow Monaghan a way through and the pressure was
contained, albeit temporarily. Then
on 19 minutes, the Monaghan number 10 broke through and seemed certain to
score. A blistering tackle by
Johnny Mayne stopped him in his tracks but a prompt offload to number 12
enabled the centre to score Monaghan’s first try.
With the conversion successful, the score was now 24-10 in BHS’s
favour.
BHS was not slow to reply; one minute later David
Mayne eluded the Monaghan number 6 who had taken up a place in the
defensive back line, offloaded the ball and sent Gareth Adams over for a
try. The conversion was not
successful, so the score was now BHS 29 to Monaghan’s 10.
Peter Taylor’s return to the game permitted some
tinkering with the forward pack. Andy
Morrison now withdrew to the sideline to lick his wounds, whilst Ian
Elliott remained on the park, moving to open side flanker.
Shortly afterwards Jordan Frampton was obliged to retire, his place
at full back being taken by Alan Magee.
On 35 minutes Neil Hastings, who had demonstrated a
high work rate all day, took an angle off his wing to penetrate the
Monaghan back line. A
successful conversion by Tim Murphy increased the score to 36-10.
In the dying minutes of the game, the Monaghan right
wing, fielding an ill-judged kick in his own half, showed real pace,
penetrating the BHS defence to score.
A successful conversion made
the final score 36-17 to BHS.
The team can afford to be pleased, though not
complacent, about its victory, given that the side is due to travel to
Monaghan next week for a crucial league match.
The Coach, Davy Scott, was equally upbeat about the team’s
success and some individual performances.
In particular he singled out Tim Murphy who showed real promise
with ball in hand, Paul Shaw who demonstrated all round skills on the day
and Davy Henry whose confidence and skill, he stated, were progressing
well with every match.
