Judges Road men start with a win

City of Derry.39

CITY of Derry marked their return to All Ireland League Division 3 with a comprehensive victory at Connemara on Saturday.

The Judges Road men continued their unbeaten run this season in all competitions when they outscored their opponents by six try’s to three and claimed a valuable bonus point in the process.

Derry had tasted defeat on their two previous trips to Clifden when they were last in the All Ireland League but Saturday’s victory gives them the perfect start to a campaign that will see the top four teams in the league all promoted.

Bevan Lynch’s men had the best of the early stages and following early pressure in the Connemara half out half Richard Peoples dropped a goal from 25 meters out for a 3 points lead with just five minutes gone.

The visitors were running the ball at every opportunity with Peter Henderson at full back making some scintillating breaks linking with his wingers David Murdock and Jack Caithness who both were stopped just short of the line. Henderson got himself on the scoreboard on 16 minutes when following broken play inside the Connemara 22 he picked up and got in for an unconverted try in the corner to give Derry an 8-0 lead.

It was continuous attack from Derry and Connemara were just fire fighting to keep their line intact. Henderson again ran a loose kick back from the half way line on 25 minutes and a nice scissors switch inside with Stephen Simms opened the Western defence for Jack Caithness to score a try with a 20 meter run in between the posts, Peoples converted for a 15 points lead.

The Derry scrum was dominant with David Witherow, Sam McAuley and Sam Duffy having the step on their opponents all afternoon. David Houston was ruling the line out and Bob McKillop was making the hard yards and tackling everything that moved, McKillop just patrolled the pitch as if he owned it.

The Derry back row were all over their opposition with Ferguson, Corr and Simms winning ball on the ground and in the loose. Stephen Ferguson made a powerful 30 metre drive at the heart of his opponents taking out several players after 35 minutes. Simon Logue collected the ball and when Ryan Campbell had made a decoy run in the centre taking out two players there was space for Logue to pass to Henderson who linked with captain Sam McAuley out on the wing to gallop in from 26 meters for an unconverted try.

Derry completed their scoring in first half injury time when the Connemara fullback Alan Keogh was sin binned and from the resulting penalty five meters out Derry opted for the scrum. Stephen Ferguson picked the ball at No 8 and drove forward before finding scrum half Logue who in turn released Richard People who showed his strength and power as went in for an unconverted try from 10 meters with two men hanging off him. That score gave Derry a 25-0 half time lead and the bonus point for scoring their fourth try.

Derry were once more dominant from the restart and had try’s from McAuley and Ryan Campbell within the first five minutes not been ruled out for forward passes it could have been a rout. Connemara eventually got out of their own half to score a fantastic break away try on 10 minutes, out half Sean Joyce chipped ahead for his centre to collect and find full back Keogh who evaded a couple of tacklers before passing inside for centre James O’Connor to complete a 65 meter move and score between the posts with Joyce converting the score was 25-7 for Derry.

This score gave Connemara some confidence and a few minutes later they were back inside the Derry 22 again and their second row Cormack McDonagh got in for a good forwards try which Joyce converted to give them hope on a score line of 25-14 for Derry. Connemara were now playing their best rugby of the game and their tackling was physical with Derry finding it hard to break their line and create space and with the referee ignoring the offside line another try could have spelt real danger for Derry.

Bevan Lynch made his changes and brought Tom Patton on for Ferguson and Stephen Duffy on for McAuley and with fresh legs Derry eventually got quality possession for Richard Peoples after 25 minutes.

Peter Henderson came into the line at pace and Peoples with a deceptive delayed pass released Man of the Match Henderson to run in under the posts from 25 meters and with Peoples converting it was 32-14 for Derry.

Peoples repeated the same slight of hand three minutes later when with another delayed pass he set Simon Logue free this time 40 meters out to run between the posts for a converted try and at 39-21 the game was over.

Connemara got a conciliation converted try on 30 minutes which completed the scoring and a convincing win for Derry by 39-21.

City of Derry: Davy Witherow, Sam McAuley, Sam Duffy, Bob McKillop, David Houston, Stephen Corr, Stephen Ferguson, Stephen Simms, Andrew Semple, Richard Peoples, David Murdock, Ryan Campbell, Simon Logue, Jack Caithness, Peter Henderson. Replacements: Stephen Duffy, Chris Shields, Tom Patton, Richard Baird, Nic Donnell..