Letterkenny RFC go down to Civil Service ahead of Gordon West opener

LETTERKENNY TRAVELLED TO Stormont for their encounter with Civil Service hopeful of picking up a second win on the road and continuing the momentum built up before Christmas into 2016.

Civil Service had other ideas and with their recent home results suggesting a change in fortune it was Civil Service who had all the pressure early on.

The Letterkenny defence was well structured and held firm but crept over the offside line and a couple of early penalty attempts were missed by the Civil Service kicker.

Despite near perfect playing conditions the pitch underfoot was very muddy and the ball became very difficult to control and pass accurately. This led to an error strewn game with a plethora of scrums.

The visiting pack were in the ascendancy from the start at scrum time and the home side had to resort to wheeling and collapsing to cope with the pressure.

Unfortunately, the referee was oblivious to the blatant scrum dominance and none of the pressure was translated into useful penalties for the visitors. Off-side at the breakdown was only loosely policed and any reasonable ball scrum-half Conall Sheridan had to work with was often illegally disrupted.

However, Letterkenny were the masters of their own misfortune, conceding a soft try from the fringe of a ruck a few meters out from the line when the usually reliable defensive structure went AWOL.

Good ball carries by Gary Canning and Ben Mortimer threatened to get Letterkenny back into the game but the ruck support was too slow and ball was needlessly turned over. Kicks in behind the Letterkenny back three were not being dealt with effectively leading to more needless concession of territory.

After another sustained period of pressure Civil Service found an opening wide on the left for their centre to crash over for their second converted try.

Letterkenny responded well and carries by Gareth McGill, Canning and forward team-mates took play towards the Civil Service 22. Good kick returns by Sean Deery and clever box kicks by Sheridan kept the pressure on Civil Service until eventually they conceded a kickable penalty. Out-half Ryan Mortimer converted the penalty opportunity to leave the half-time score 14-3.

The second half produced a change of approach from the referee and Letterkenny now were justly rewarded for their complete scrum dominance with penalties.

Unfortunately the line-out mis-fired on several occasions and useful field position was lost. Letterkenny had much more possession in the second half and McGill barged over for an unconverted try to reduce the deficit.

Karl Wison, who was having a great debut for the senior 1st XV, was making himself a nuisance at the breakdown and won several turnovers for Letterkenny. A yellow card or penalty try wouldn’t have been out of place for the infringements by Civil Service at scrum time but none were forthcoming.

A break out of defence almost seen a third Service try but for the last ditch tackles of Evin Walsh and Deery. Another period of Civil Service pressure led to a converted penalty to open the gap to nine points with 10 minutes to play.

Letterkenny finished the game strongly with good carries from Sean Morris and John Anthony McFadden but weren’t able to make the breakthrough for a losing bonus point.

Tomorrow, Saturday, sees the first round of the Gordon West Cup with Letterkenny hosting the PSNI at Derry YM’s ground. A big improvement in the basics of the game will be required to see off the PSNI and progress to the next round.

Letterkenny Rugby Club in association with main sponsor Kelly’s Toyota, Port Rd., Letterkenny.