Northern Bank Schools' Bowl: Quarter Finals

After a narrow defeat last week to Cambridge House, Limavady needed a strong start to a team who had beaten them earlier in the season. The game started with strong attacking play by the visitors who had the wind behind them. Good field position offered an opportunity for a kick at goal. This was converted to open the scoring at 3-0 to Limavady. Shortly after the restart Limavady found themselves in the opponent’s green zone once again where Stuart Thompson saw a gap and was able to walk in for a try to make the score 10-0 to the visitors. The intensity of the game dropped slightly after a fast, hard opening 10 minutes. Dalriada capitalised on this and attacked up the centre with line breaks from flanker T.J. McCaw. These proved fruitless but 2 penalties awarded to the home side left the score at 10-6. The Dalriada fly half scored shortly before the stoppage to make the half-time score 11-10 to the Ballymoney men.

Going into the second half a point down left Limavady needing to raise their game and get points on the board which would be a challenge into a strong breeze. After heavy pressure from a strong Dalriada attack Limavady cleared the lines and gradually worked their way up the pitch. The visitor’s efforts were rewarded with a penalty on the touchline. The kick at goal fell short but the chase up from Limavady resulted in the centre Matthew Haslett catching the ball and running in over the line to touch down for another 5 points. This try was converted making the score line 17-11. Limavady kept the pressure on and to score again from good rucking and excellent forward play resulted in tighthead prop Chris Donnell crashing over the line for another try. This was also converted by Stuart Thompson making the score 24-11. It took a strong defence from Limavady after this to hold off attacks from Dalriada on their own try line but as the clocked ticked on the home team could not score.

The game finished 24-11 and Limavady now go on to the semi-final of the Schools’ Bowl.

Report by: Rogan Bell (Capt.)