The roar of delight from the Limavady players and supporters on hearing the final whistle was a backhanded compliment to the Letterkenny players as the run-away league leaders knew they had been tested in a hard fought physical battle at Dave Gallaher Park. The final whistle came as Letterkenny were pounding the visitors line in search of a third try and a deserved losing bonus point but couldn’t quite manage to hold on to possession.
Limavady arrived as the unbeaten league leaders with a 17 point lead at the top of the table and having dished out thrashings to most teams in the league to date. Letterkenny were the recipients of just such a rugby lesson at John Hunter Memorial Park at the start of the season. Saturday’s game would serve as a useful benchmark as to how much progress Letterkenny had made in the three months since their first encounter.
The game started brightly for Letterkenny and an early penalty chance by out half Ryan Mortimer drifted just to left of the posts in the strong breeze. Some ill-discipline at the breakdown allowed the visitors to gain field position inside the Letterkenny 22 but the home defence was resolute. Ben Mortimer attacked the line out to give Limavady scrappy ball and Chris Digimas and Shaun McGill epitomised the spirit of the Letterkenny side with a fantastic counter ruck that resulted in a Letterkenny scrum inside the 22. On the back of a great scrum drive, scrum-half Conal Sheridan broke blind from the base and released captain Terence Gallagher who swatted off a would-be tackler before kicking ahead to bring play into the Limavady 22. Unfortunately this was the last contribution Gallagher could make to the game as he was forced to retire with a shoulder injury.
Playing with 14 men for most of the game, Letterkenny rose to the challenge and it wasn’t until midway through the first half when Limavady made a breakthrough. Following a period of pressure the visitors took a quick tap penalty near the line and simple hands on the right caught the Letterkenny defence unawares for the opening score. The Roesiders added another score after moving the ball well from one side of the pitch to the other to overstretch the 14 man home defence and a Limavady player broke around the fringe of the ruck for a score.
Letterkenny were not going to relinquish their 100% home record easily and were soon playing rugby inside the Limavady half. Great forward charges by Conor Dunleavy, Rae Clarke and Gary Canning were pinning the visitors back and centre Colm McNicholl managed to squeeze over near the corner to open Letterkenny’s account for the day. The try was unconverted in the difficult conditions leaving the half-time score 12-5 to the visitors.
With renewed belief in themselves Letterkenny took the game to Limavady and continued to test the visitors with their strong running and aggressive defence. Unfortunately a lapse in concentration just inside the Letterkenny half left the blind-side of a ruck unguarded and the Limavady prop gratefully galloped 40m to touch down in the corner. The try was against the run of play but Letterkenny refused to let it hamper the momentum they had built up and were back pressurising Limavady from the re-start. A very kickable penalty opportunity was spurned in favour of a line-out close to the line. Following a series of plays off scrum-half Sheridan, centre Sean Deery received the ball a little wider from the ruck and picked a great line to crash over for a well taken try. Mortimer added the conversion to close the gap to just 5 points with only 15 minutes to play.
Unfortunately another temporary defensive lapse allowed Limavady to score a try again from the fringe of a ruck and re-open a two score lead. Not daunted at all by the task in hand, Letterkenny bravely attacked the Limavady defence with purpose. Excellent play by forwards and backs alike brought play ever closer to the Limavady line. Unfortunately time ran out before Letterkenny could force a way over for what would have been a thoroughly deserved losing bonus point.
The Letterkenny players can feel very proud of their collective effort and although coming away empty handed in terms of league points, will have gained huge confidence from an excellent performance to a man against impressive opposition. A top four league finish is achievable for this young Letterkenny side if the same passion, intensity and endeavour as was evident today is brought to the remaining league games in 2016.