BHSFP  56 v 3 Monaghan

Following a lengthy spell of heavy rain the sun came out to welcome the Monagahan players to Greenisland for this league encounter. On the day the pitch was in reasonable condition even after the deluge of the previous 24 hours , a testament to the quality of the playing surfaces at Greenisland. 

Having secured a well deserved victory the previous week against PSNI the team was missing David Hanna who by now is probably known as Bruce and living it up in Australia. Good luck in the coming months Davy.

With Davy’s departure Andy  Morrison reverted to number 8 and Davy Henry who had his debut at prop the previous week moved to the second row to join George Diamondis. Peter Taylor returns to prop following his jaunt around the big apple.

The game got underway with High School anticipating a tough match against Monaghan having finished as the losing side in both League encounters last season. Initial forays were pretty even but once the High School forwards secured some clean ball the strength of the backline was quickly evident as the first try came after 5 minutes of play. The ball was secured from a line out on the Monaghan 22 and was sweetly moved straight across the backline to Neil Hastings who finished in style.The conversion was secured by Tim Murphy.

These early scores seemed to set Monaghan back and although they continued to try and get into the game they were being outplayed in every facet at this stage. The High School pack were securing copious amounts of ball with Stephen Morton having one of those games where he could do nothing wrong. With Pete Taylor and John Balmer securing the scrummage and Davy Henry in a more favoured position in the second row alongside George Diamondis the forward pack was well balanced . Andy Morrison at No 8 called the shots and was ably supported by the hard tackling Paul Lavery . 

A further blow to the Monaghan moral came after only 10 minutes of play when David Mayne, playing with 6 stitches in his head after last weeks encounter , took advantage of poor handling by the visiting team to secure a touch down after being on hand to scavange at the breakdown. The conversion was secured by Tim Murphy. 

By now High School were well ahead but were in no mood to let the momentum slip. Good work on the ground by John Balmer secured ball which was converted into a slick handling move by the half backs of Jonny Mayne and Tim Murphy who was having perhaps his best game of the season in the outhalf position. Once again David Mayne was there to finish the move for his second try of the day again converted by Tim Murphy.

At this point 13 minutes of play had elapsed and although Monaghan were 4 tries down they mounted a resurgence and for the next fifteen minutes the play was more even with the Monaghan forwards getting back into the game and the backline having the occasional foray into High School territory. However, with thirty minutes on the clock High School added to the try tally with another typical handling move across the backline. The move was finished by the strong running Phil Mckeown who barged his way across the line for the try. Again converted by Tim Murphy.   

With the attacking mostly coming from High School the use of phase ball was very evident . Much to the fore in this was Chris Kitchen who time and again in the match made ground up the middle with strong charging runs setting up position for the next movement . Chris contributed considerably to this game by his hard approach and was later to secure a try for his efforts. 

As the game moved towards the break Monaghan continued to struggle against the High School but were not in the business of giving up. With 7 minutes of the half left to play the visitors were awarded a penalty which was converted to put some points on the scoreboard. 

On the restart the game continued in the fashion the first half had finished with the High School very much in command both in the tight and lose. 

The next points were secured by Chris Kitchen who was on hand to cut through the Monaghan defence after a poor clearance was charged down by the roving Stephen Morton. Tim Murphy converted.For the next 15 minutes the game seemed to swing to and fro with the visitors coming back into contention more so than at any point up to this. High School seemed to relax a bit having maintained excellent momentum up to this point but it is fair to say that Monaghan should have been further behind had it not been for a couple of handling errors which denied High School certain tries . Monaghan however did string a couple of good attacking moves together and it was clear that a couple of their speedy backs were dangerous if given space to move. 

The High School forwards continued to dominate proceedings with Gareth McManus hitting his targets in the line out and clean ball being the order of the day both from line out and scrummage. 

The final points of the day came from a loose ball situation . Good cleaning work secured the ball for High School to attack once again . Tim Murphy put a lovely chip over the Monaghan defence as it came forward . The ball was collected by Neil Hastings who sailed in for his fourth try of the day .  

This was the eigth try of the match secured by High School every one of which was converted by Tim Murphy who had clearly turned up on the day with the correct boots . 

Next Week its Ophir away . All possible support will be welcome.

Labor Ipse Voluptas.