Letterkenny made the long trip to Co. Cavan this Saturday to face a Virginia side they had already put to the sword twice this season but the Donegal men were left to rue missed chances in a heated battle dominated by big hits and off the ball scuffles.
In blistering Cavan sunshine, it was Virginia who made the better start with some big carries from their pack and their early ambition was rewarded with a penalty after Letterkenny infringed at the breakdown. The home side duly took the 3 points and the lead. This seemed to awaken the Letterkenny team and from the kick off they pinned Virginia inside their 22. A knock on saw the visitors awarded a 5m scrum. Much as they have all season they Letterkenny pack pushed the opposition backwards at a rate of knots and will feel unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty try when Virginia conceded a penalty when 'Kenny looked certain to score. From the resulting penalty the Virginia 8 was yellow carded for slapping the ball out of scrum half Conall Sheridans hand at a ruck.
Letterkenny opted for the scrum just to the right of the posts 5 meters out. If eight Virginia men struggled to stop the Letterkenny drive then seven certainly couldn't and Dave Brown dotted down at the back as the scrum was driven over the line. Peter Scott added the extras.
Letterkenny failed to capitalise further on their numerical advantage. Twice they butchered try scoring opportunities, first a wonderful last ditch tackle by the Virginia winger saw Martin Molloy knock forward with men outside him and the line at their mercy.
Shortly after, Molloy was sure he had made amends as he raced clear to score a try, unfortunately the referee had other ideas and adjudged the pass to him by Sheridan to have been forward.
Just before half time Letterkenny loose head Sean Morris was harshly sin binned at a scrum when the referee decided he was the cause of repeated trouble at the set piece.
The rest of the half decended into a war of attrition, brought to an end by a shuddering hit on the Virginia out half by Letterkenny 2nd row Conor Dunleavy.
The score remained 3-7 at half time
The second half continued much the same as the first but a break by the Letterkenny back line saw Virginia penalised for hands in the ruck and Peter Scott duly extended the away sides lead with a well struck penalty. Minutes later Scott was asked to repeat the task and again split the uprights to give Letterkenny a 10 point lead.
The match was then delayed for several minutes following a nasty clash of heads which left Chris Petersen stricken on the turf, unable to continue for the rest of the game and indeed, as it later transpired, for the remainder of the season.
The break in play seemed to galvanise the home side and they came back at Letterkenny with everything they had. First they earned a penalty in front of the posts which reduced the deficit to seven.
Then in the dying embers of the game, Virginia looked certain to score only to be denied by some heroic Letterkenny defending which forced the turnover on their own line. Unfortunately for Letterkenny the attempted clearing box kick was charged down and pounced on by Virginia to leave the score 11-13 with a difficult conversion to come.
Virginia's out half stepped up and struck the ball, for a brief moment it seemed like he had misjudged the angle but at the last second the ball came back in, and agonisingly for Letterkenny, bounced off the upright and over leaving both sides level at the final whistle.

Everyone at Letterkenny RFC would like to wish Chris Petersen a speedy recovery from an extremely nasty injury and we look forward to seeing the St. Johnston speedster back in black & amber soon.

15: Peter Scott 14: Evin Walsh 13: Daniel Faulkner 12: Michael Foy 11: Chris Petersen 10: Ryan Mortimer 9: Conal McGinley
1: Sean Morris 2: Shaun McGill 3: Christopher Digimas 4: Conor Dunleavy 5: Diarmuid Gallagher 6: Kevin McLaughlin 7: Martin Molloy 8: David Brown
Subs: Stephen Gibson, Dylan Downey