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Randalstown grab morale boosting victory from the jaws of defeat

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Randalstown’s Neil Foster in action against Malone.

Randalstown 17 Malone Seconds 15
RANDALSTOWN bounced back from a disappointing defeat in their previous outing before Christmas to record a morale boosting victory in a conference fixture against Malone Seconds.
The return of Gareth Henry to number eight after a long injury lay off was an important factor in an impressive forward display which laid the foundations of the 17-15 win.
Randalstown were slow to start and looked rusty after a three week break and Malone took the upper hand early on.
It took the visitors just 11 minutes to turn their dominance into points when their flanker hit a good line close in and split the 'Town defence to crash over.
Stout defence from O'Kane and Coulter kept the visitors from adding to their tally but this was only a brief respite as minutes later Malone stretched the home defence, who ran out of tacklers, and again went over in the corner.
After half an hour the home side gradually began to pull themselves into the game.
The home pack were always on top in the scrums and secured good possession in the line out. Coupled with the backs beginning to make their tackles count the tide began to turn a little.
Hard tackling in midfield by the McGarry brothers led to Malone coughing up a penalty on their 22. O'Kane slotted an excellent kick in the blustery conditions to bring the score to 10-3.
This seemed to spark Randalstown into action and with Alex Fleck, Henry and D Millar all to the fore, the forwards pounded the visitors line.
Unfortunately their efforts did not lead to any additional points on the board before the break.
In the second half, against the run of play, Malone broke through and after a series of rucks close to the 'Town line they crossed for a third unconverted score.
Despite the score, Randalstown pressed on and Wilson and James Millar became increasingly influential in the rucks and mauls using their strength to turn over a number of balls.
A great drive by the impressive Johnny Adair was stopped just short and in the ensuing chaos Malone lost their tight head for the remainder of the game with an arm injury.
From the resultant uncontested scrummage O'Kane blind fed to Ryan McGarry. The winger was held up but James Millar was on hand to pick up and barge over for a well deserved try. O'Kane slotted over the difficult conversion from out wide and it was game on.
Urged on by a sizeable crowd, the home side tore into Malone for the remaining 12 minutes - combining some ferocious tackling from the back line and energy-sapping driving by the pack.
The pressure bore fruit when a scrum again on the 22 saw the ball flicked to Blayne McGarry and the centre sliced through the visiting defence.
Although he was stopped five metres out he was able to pass to skipper Foster coming at considerable pace and he dived over under the posts leaving an easier conversion for O'Kane and putting 'Town into the lead for the first time in the game.
They held on to the lead for the remaining few minutes to run out well-deserved winners.
Coach Stevenson was delighted to see his side blow off the cobwebs before the league re-starts in a fortnight, clawing themselves back into a game that looked over after half an hour.
The returning Henry was a major influence at number eight while Matty Turner made an assured first start on the First XV with a good all round game.
Randalstown: C Coulter, W Fleck, D McGarry, B McGarr,y R McGarry, M Turner, J O'Kane, J Adair, S Finlay, N Foster, D Millar, J Millar, D Wilson, A Fleck, G Henry.
This Saturday (January 14) the First XV travel to Harlequins for another Conference fixture while the Seconds entertain Ards Thirds at Neillsbrook in the Forster Cup.

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