No Holywood happy ending for Randalstown Seconds

Despite fielding a strong xv ‘Town put in a very flat performance on the back of 2 defeats in their previous 2 games, and after an enforced 2 week break because of the weather.

It was the ‘town side who opened the scoring however after 5 minutes when Turner popped over a penalty created from good pressure by Goodrich and McWhirter, forcing Holywood back from a scrum.

The first try came after about 15 minutes when Holywood created an overlap on the left after some poor tackling in the ‘town backline, and their winger scampered home for an unconverted try.

Ten minutes later Randalstown hit back to take the lead again. From a shortened line-out Loughlin gathered and drove into the heart of the Holywood defence. The ball was recycled and McWhirter found Hamilton who hit the line at pace and powered through a couple of defenders to touch down under the posts. Turner added the extras.

Shortly after Holywood again exploited poor ‘Town tackling to burst through the centre and score again under the posts. The straightforward conversion gave them a 12–10 half time lead.

After the turnaround the visitors again started brightly and in the opening minutes Turner added another penalty to the tally.

The game then got bogged down a bit in a midfield battle before some quick thinking by Turner initiated a 2nd ‘Town try with an hour played. Holywood expected a kick to touch from a penalty on half way, but the young out half tapped and popped to Scott McClenaghan.

The big 2nd row made great inroads into the Holywood half before off loading to Peter McCann, who outsprinted the remaining home defender for a great score.

The last 20 minutes saw Holywood dominate, ‘Town’s only opportunities coming from a couple of strong runs by Paul Morriss.

With barely 10 minutes remaining the home side pounced on scrappy ball on the Randalstown 10 metre line and cut through a couple of would be tacklers for a try. After a further spell of pressure close to the ‘town line the Holywood scrum half darted through a gap in the defence and ran in under the posts for the decisive try.

Even though this was a disappointing performance from Randalstown credit must be given to a much improved Holywood side, particularly the back line, who were a constant threat. Manager Sloane singled out Scott Goodrich and Scott McClenaghan as his pick of the ‘Town side on the day.

Seconds: McCann, Winter, Jamieson, Moon, Morriss, Turner, McWhirter, Loughlin, A McClenaghan, Hamilton, Montgomery, S McClenaghan, Harris, Goodrich, Ings.

This Saturday the 2nds are due to travel to Lurgan while the 1st XV entertain Lurgan 1sts in the League at Neillsbrook. The 3rd XV are due to travel to Ballynahinch.