u18's v Dromore

Dromore, u18 league champions and undefeated all season, were the visitors to Dave Gallaher Park on Saturday for the semi-final of the Ulster Cup to face the ever improving Letterkenny team. A stiff breeze favoured the home team in the first half which they put to good use, driving the Co. Down side back into their own half.
Dromore’s weight advantage was evident at the scrum, giving them a good platform to release the strong back row but Letterkenny’s much improved defence proved an even match. It was always going to be a very tight cup match and Letterkenny took the chance of early points when Ryan Mortimer converted a penalty.
The home team's centre pairing of Daniel Faulkner and Alex Boyd were causing havoc in the opposition half and were unlucky not to get on the score sheet and their dogged defence stopped all that the league champions could through at them.
The referee, who at times put on a blinding display of incompetence, disallowed what appeared from the touchline to be a perfectly good try and gave the visitors a penalty whilst still playing advantage to Letterkenny, which would have given them a further kickable 3 points. Dromore cleared their lines to leave Letterkenny 3-0 up at the break.
'kenny knew that a win was very much on the cards but soon after the break Dromore worked the ball wide to score an unconverted try and take the lead. Immediately Letterkenny were back in the faces of the Down side and pressure from the back row of Joe Dunleavy and Martin Molloy caused an error in the Dromore back line for winger Peter Scott to snaffle up, outsprint the defence, and run in under the posts. Mortimer converted to take it to 10 - 5.
Almost from the restart Dromore once again found space out wide and scored their second try of the game, again unconverted. Again the home team responded and they were back on the attack – quick ball from scrum half Ben Khavia fed the Letterkenny out-half who made a break but was spear tackled onto his head. Bizarrely no obligatory red or even yellow card was produced but the referee did award a penalty which fell tantalisingly short of the posts.
The final whistle came too soon for the deadlock to be broken and the game ended at 10-10, one thing the referee did know was there was no extra time but it was an agonising wait for the lads to find out that Dromore would be going to Ravenhill in the final by virtue of scoring more tries.
It was a fine display of rugby from both teams and Letterkenny can hold their heads high – the majority of the team will still be under 18’s again next year and will be feared throughout the province. Head Coach Gordon Curley should be extremely pleased with how these players have matured in all aspects of the game.
An end of season tour to England is in store for some of the players and it will be interestting to see how they fair across the water.
Letterkenny Team; Douglas Doyle, Stephen Holmes, Karl Wilson, Dermot Dunleavy, Diarmuid Gallagher, Joe Dunleavy, Martin Molloy, Mark Gillespie, Ben Khavia, Ryan Mortimer, Kevin Grant, Alex Boyd, Daniel Faulkner, Peter Scott, Evan Walsh Reps; Darragh Toal, Ciaran Sweeney, Kevin Neely, Adam Boal-Quinn, Daniel Bruce, Sam MacGinty, Joshua Smeaton, Caoimhin Mac Lochlainn