:: Dungannon Rugby Club :: by stagetimes.com

Friday, August 18, 2006

Return of the Earls 50/50 Game

The Return of the Earls Festival of Sport kicked off with another enjoyable combined rugby gaelic football match between The Clarkes and the Rugby club. Although the weather was not as good as we would have liked the rain stayed off until the final fifteen minutes.
Honours were even with the rugby players winning the rugby and the gaelic players winning the gaelic football.
Dungannon rugby’s captain John McGuckin sent Darren ‘Dazzler’ Simpson away for a try after five minutes. Another try was on the cards but Big Alan miller just failed to hold the pass. Then Barry Daly turned to catch an awkward ball before slipping his man and breaking another tackle to score his first try on a rugby pitch. Rugby’s third try was scored by Richard Cummings who replaced the exhausted Brian Simpson after twelve minutes. Richard dodged inside two men after Michael Crawford had put him away. Darren Simpson scored his second try after taking a well timed pass from Barry Donnelly. The try of the night followed some intelligent play from three of the ‘youngsters’. James Shiells, Barry Donnelly and Michael Campbell combined well before Barry went over for the touch down. The rugby club pack laid the foundation for the win with Paul Montgomery and Rodney Kirkland winning good lineout ball. The front row of Maxwell, Reid and Sands enjoyed the encounter and it was great to see Raymond McCann on the park again. Nothing Raymond or Alan Miller could do encouraged Stevie Donaghy to involve himself in any of the rucks, preferring to wait for a pass from the inside centre position. The boys from the Clarkes really seemed to enjoy the rugby especially the close contact situations where they were coached by the enthusiastic Gareth Weir.
The second half of the game changed for the rugby boys. Despite the best efforts of John McGuckin, James Shiells and Barry Donnelly they were very much second best. Stephen Sands guarded the goals manfully and achieved one objective; he stopped Goose from scoring a goal. But he could not stop him from kicking a point. Shane Treanor, (remember the man who missed the perfect try last season) starred. Shane scored freely although his brother Ryan thought he had abetter game. Along with the Treanor brothers Clarke’s scores came from skipper Oliver Donnelly Kieran McCrory, Gareth Weir, Christopher McKeever and Karl Doran. The crown were entertained by the rugby clubs temperamental Italian style full forward Murphy aka Paul Montgomery. Time and time again Barry Donnelly, Barry Daly and Brian Simpson put through great chances. Richard Holmes, coaching from the side disagreed when Murphy called for a penalty for an alleged blatant foul by Chris Rafferty. However he scored in the end and the celebrations were worth waiting for, a combination of Robbie Keane and Monty Panesar. Prior to Murphy’s second open goal miss Barry Donnelly had scored a goal for the rugby club. Jamesie Shiells, showing great footballing skills slotted over two points for the club.
Our thanks to referees Declan Reilly who refereed the rugby game with compassion and Martin Mohan who kept a shrill whistle throughout the gaelic football half.

Dungannon Clarkes:- Chris McKenna, Steff McKenna, Darragh O’Hagan, Darren Treanor, Ryan Treanor, Oliver Donnelly, Chris Rafferty, Justin McQuaid, Shane Treanor, Shane Casey, Jack Allen, Kieran McCrory, Christopher McKeever, Karl Doran, Adrian Hughes, Peter Quinn.
Referee: Martin Mohan.
Dungannon Rugby Club :- Barry Donnelly. Barry Daly, Michael Crawford, Darren Simpson, Brian Simpson, Richard Cummings. James Shiells, John McGuckin (Captain). Stephen Sands, Gareth Weir, David Reid, Gary Maxwell, Rodney Kirkland, Paul Montgomery, Stephen Donaghy, Alan Millar, Raymond McCann.
Referee: Declan Riley (Newry RFC)

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