It was a fairly cool morning in Dungannon with an early kick off because the ref had to be elsewhere, so basically off the coach and a very quick warm up. Both sides looked evenly balanced in size. Dungannon had the better of the ERGS boys in the pack, winning the majority of scrums throughout the game. Matty McConkey, normally so quick at scrum half, was beaten and caught a number of times but there was definitely a bit if creeping around the side by his opposite number which was missed by the ref.
After 10 minutes the Dungannon scored an unconverted try despite the line being bravely defended by the ERGS boys. Soon afterwards the visitors were back in the game mostly through good ground made by James Balfour, one of the stars of the game. Craig Johnson kicked a penalty from the Dungannon 22 metre line bringing the score to 5-3 at 1/2 time. Some more good runs by James Balfour and some solid tackling by Chris Balfour, Ally Jones, Jack Coulter kept the Dungannon team in their own half until another penalty was awarded and Enniskillen’s Craig Johnson put it between the uprights. Alex Holder as the captain kept on leading the way but a final flourish by Dungannon, aided by some bad refereeing decisions, led to the home side scoring the final 5 points of the game. It finished 10-6 to Dungannon.
Overall it was a good game by Enniskillen with every one of the players performing well. Dungannon dominated the scrums but were basically a centre field team while Enniskillen tried to spread the ball to the wings, despite a slippy ball caused by the damp conditions. We said at the first game of the season that this Ennskillen team would be hard to beat and so it has proved. It’s credit to Dungannon therefore, for pulling it off.
