Shield defeat for Dalriada Medallion after tight tussle with Campbell College

On Saturday, Dalriada Medallion team played Campbell in the Fourth Round and in a very tight contest lost out by two tries.

The game was played in atrocious conditions and it was an achievement for the game to be actually played.

A small workforce of parents had arrived early morning to work on the pitch to allow it to go ahead.

Indeed such were the conditions across the province that many games did not take place.

Dalriada started the game and played with the ever increasing wind in the first half.

They proceeded to apply pressure throughout the first twenty minutes with Campbell trapped in their half throughout.

Several strong runs from the forwards in particular Adam Stewart and captain Scott Gamble were repelled on each occasion by a stout Campbell defence.

Dalriada were certainly playing with great confidence and indeed opted to kick into the corner as opposed to kick at goal.

However from the line out they were held up, after the centre of Denis Posternak and Thomas Hunter came up short.

With Dalriada attacking and Campbell defending and then relieving pressure the half drifted on and maybe another possible kick at goal was turned down as Dalriada went in search of a try to satisfy their desire to put a major score on the board.

However, again play got held up over the line and the chance went as we came to half time with the score level at 0-0.

With the turn around it was Campbell who came out of the blocks and right from the kick off capitalised on a Dalriada mistake.

From this possession they really caught the Dalriada defence cold and worked the ball wide to score in the corner.

Their kicker then struck a magnificent conversion that just cleared the bar and no more.

With the wind picking up even more it was Dalriada’s turn to struggle in their own half and five minutes later Campbell bulldozed over for another score.

With the score at 12-0 Dalriada knew that if they could get at least one score the tie was still open.

However they found it really difficult to play their normal game with the overhead and underfoot conditions.

Into the last quarter a number of changes were made and certainly one stood out, that of Ross Fallowes on the wing.

He suddenly injected some pace into the attack and managed several breaks but unfortunately for his side failed to really penetrate the Campbell defence effectively.

With game time Dalriada put on their available subs but to no avail.

Eventually the referee blew for full time and the 12-0 score in Campbell’s favour did not reflect how close this game was.

There was obvious disappointment for the Dalriada side who had previous had a win over their opposition earlier in the season.

On another day in different conditions the result may have been different.

That cannot take away the effort and commitment shown by all the players both on the day but also over the season.

The Medallion team now look forward to playing in the Plate and keep alive the hope of winning a trophy this season.

* This Saturday the 1st XV look forward to their Third Round Cup game against RBAI.

Going up against last year’s finalist Dalriada approach this tie with quite confidence.

They have perform well against all the ‘big guns’ this season and have prepare well for this phase of the season.

This weekend they were away for a training get together to Limerick.

They were based around the University training facilities and worked with some members of the Munster squad.

The squad are really looking forward to taking on their Belfast counterparts and the boys are really looking forward to having a big support from the community.

Kick off is scheduled for a 11am.