On a dry but blustery day, Letterkenny welcomed Virginia to Dave Gallaher Park for their first home game of the season.
Letterkenny RFC 19 Virginia RFC 5
Right from the kick-off Letterkenny took control of the game putting the visiting defence under huge pressure.
With the windy conditions making an expansive game next to impossible, the home side kept it tight and used their superior physicality to impose their hard running style on the men from Cavan.
Despite brave defence, it felt like only a matter of time before Letterkenny would score and indeed the dam eventually burst when second row Clarke powered over for his second try in two games.
Daragh McConnell added the conversion to make it 7-0.
The dominance continued for the home team and only a couple of minutes later, captain David Brown smashed his way over from close range. This time the conversion was unsuccessful.
At this point it seemed as though it was going to be a long day, a long way from home for the Virginia team but it is to their great credit they kept the score 12-0 for the rest of the half.
The second half begin with more Letterkenny pressure and a five-metre scrum to the visitors on their own line ended horribly, allowing flanker Ben Curran to pounce on a loose ball and claim a third try for the home team. McConnell added the conversion to stretch the lead to 19 points
At this point, Letterkennys discipline let them down in their quest for a fourth try and a bonus point. First David Brown was yellow carded as the penalty count mounted.
The home side managed to hold on with 14 men for the next ten minutes, however with Browns time in the bin about to expire, a reckless tackle by young centre James Sweeney left referee Colin McCandless with no other option than to once again reach for yellow.
Virginia failed to fully exploit their 20 minutes of numerical advantage, managing to score only once during that spell.
Captain Padraig McManus showed his power to barrel over from 2 meters out however the conversion was missed leaving the score at 19-5.
The score would remain that way as Letterkenny showed cool heads to take the pace out of the valiant Virginia attack and close out the game.
Letterkenny back to winning ways and five points from two games.
Next up is the visit of UU Coleraine to Dave Gallaher Park on September 28th. Kick off is at 2.30pm and hopefully a large home crowd will be there to welcome the students to Letterkenny.
Letterkenny: Stephen Gibson, Shaun McGill, David Brown, Cormac McMenamin, Ciaran Clarke, Jack Kennedy, Ben Curran, Christopher Green, Liam Fogarty, Darragh McConnell, Martin Molloy, James Sweeney, Lewi Carson, Chris Petersen, Conor Cannon, Keenan Barrett, Hugh Declan Ferry
