Rainey u18 v Letterkenny u18

Rainey 15 Letterkenny 23
Despite very wet and windy conditions on Saturday Letterkenny U18s maintained their fantastic winning run in the Ulster Carpets Premier Division. In a game dominated by the conditions Letterkenny and Rainey both delivered a competitive and enthralling game where the packs slugged it out with the backs given little chance to show their skills. Peter Scott got Letterkenny off the mark early with a penalty. The home side were well up for this game and replied quickly with a try which had the visitors defence asking some questions of itself. The game was being played mainly in the middle third of the pitch with Joe Dunleavy, David Ward, Diarmuid Gallagher and Chris Green prominent for the visitors both in terms of carrying and stopping the Rainey ball carriers. With both teams struggling to break the gain line, mistakes were the order of the day for the home team and Peter Scott added 2 more penalties to ease Kenny further in front 9-5. A slick off load to David Ward allowed the prop to break the defensive line and out pace the defence to score near the posts leaving Scott with a simple conversion.
Approaching the break, leading 16-5 all was going to plan for Letterkenny even if the performance was somewhat disjointed. A try and conversion by the home team just before the half time whistle brought the visitors back down to earth and reminded them that this game was far from over and indeed the deficit was reduced to the minimum with Rainey kicking a penalty straight after the restart. Letterkenny replacements Conor Canon and Stephen Gibson were making an impact and Martin Molloy was also clocking up an impressive number of tackles but still Letterkenny could not shake off the home team and the frustration was beginning to show.The Rainey backline showed some slick handling on occasion and were beginning to increase the pressure on the visitors. Composed defence kept the home team at bay but the game was still on a knife edge where one mistake could decide it. Into the last 10 mins and the Letterkenny team finally got going and applied some sustained pressure to the home team try line and with the forwards making ground only a couple of very ambitious passes in the poor conditions stopped them crossing. With only a few minutes left Letterkenny made the decisive break through when after sustained forward pressure hooker Stephen Holmes crossed the line under the posts to make the game safe and ensure Letterkenny continue to top the table. Another hurdle crossed in the race for the league but their are bigger challenges ahead which will require a higher level of performance from this team.

Lettrekenny Kevin Grant, Eoin Henry, Matthew Faulkner, Daniel Faulkner, Oisin Toal, Peter Scott, Ben Khavia, Joseph Dunleavy, Christopher Green, Martin Molloy, John Fogarty, Diarmuid Gallagher, David Ward, Stephen Holmes, Douglas Doyle. Subs Jack McGarvey, Stephen Gibson, Conor Canon, Adam Boal-Quinn, Joshua Smeaton.