Enniskillen 1st XV picked up another bonus point league win last Saturday as they hosted CIYMS on a cold, still afternoon at Mullaghmeen. Having beaten CI on their home patch earlier in the season Skins would have hoped to take the honours, but they were gifted nothing by the visitors who worked hard to disrupt the Skins attack and defended well throughout. CI took the lead from an early penalty but tries from Carleton and Maguire had Skins well in control at half time. The forwards continued to assert themselves with scores from Warrington and Harte in the second half securing the bonus point, with CI clinching a score in the last play to reduce the deficit.
Skins started well from the restart but immediately found CI working hard to challenge the breakdown and the home side leaked some early penalties for holding on as the support at the ruck was lacklustre. The visitors kicked at goal from the resultant penalty and took the lead 0-3 against a frustrated Enniskillen.
From the restart Skins continued to attack through the forwards with Jamie Kelly, Gareth Beatty and Gavin Parke doing the lion’s share of carrying at the CI line to good effect as Dane at scrum half kept the pack well utilised. It took time for Skins to wear down a determined defence and thankfully they seemed to be in the ascendency at the scrum, with a penalty allowing Finlay to kick them deep into the opposition half. A maul from the line out brought play deep into the CI half and eventually Carleton spotted a gap to cross for a score, taking the lead 7-3 after the conversion.
Unfortunately Skins continued to leak penalties from the restart and soon CI were well inside the Skins half putting together good phases but coming up against a relentless Enniskillen defence, David Buchanan slowing down the carriers as usual and CI had to settle with three points from a kick at goal, 7-6.
Skins managed to reclaim possession from the restart shortly before half time and again battered the defensive line through the forward pack before an overlap developed out wide and the ball found John Maguire who crossed for the second score, converted to lead 14-6 at the half.
It was well into the third quarter before Skins got any reward for their efforts as the visitors continued to defend well and the referee’s allegiance at the scrum seemed to have reversed as he penalised Skins for illegalities and made it difficult for the home side to build pressure. Thankfully the Skins defence was equally stubborn with Harte and Ferguson shutting down any attacking threat and CI rarely looked like scoring. The back line came into the game more now with O’Shea and Hoy making good ground out wide to bring play into the CI half. With a scrum now 10 metres from the CI line Jack Harte, now at 8 from centre, made good ground from a pick and Gavin Parke nearly crossed after a stellar carry but it broke down into a series of pick and go’s which ended with Gavin Warrington crossing for the third try, converted now to lead 21-6.
The visitors continued to offer plenty of resistance and it took another 20 for Skins to claim their fourth try to seal the bonus point. Another scrum in a similar position, again leading to pick and go’s with Jack Harte finding the try line this time, converted again to lead 28-6.
CI responded with good pressure from the restart to reclaim possession and a tenacious Skins defence kept them at bay before a nicely timed run in midfield from the CI centre went through unimpeded to score under the posts, Full time at 28-13.
It wasn’t the best performance from Enniskillen who took a while getting into the game but they showed plenty of experience in building scores against a side who were clearly up for the contest. They now head away to Instonians in the league, hoping to recreate their cup performance which dispatched the side on their home turf a few months back.

1.G. Warrington, 2. R. Cathcart, 3. G.Beatty (c), 4. J. Kelly, 5. D. Buchanan, 6. J. Rutledge, 7. G. Parke, 8. J. Carleton, 9. M. Dane, 10. N. Finlay, 11. C. Hoy, 12. J. Harte, 13. J. Ferguson, 14. M. O’Shea, 15. J. Maguire, 16. S. Fox, 17. O.Timoney

Match details

Match date

Sat 18 Jan 2020

Kickoff

14:30

Team overview