Skerries 1st XV got their AIL 2B campaign back to winning ways on Saturday but they kept their supporters waiting until the better end yet again, as Ronan Mulcahy’s penalty with the final act of the game earned a hard-fought 24-22 victory over Rainey.
Following the disappointment of losing at home to Malone the previous week, there were several fresh faces in the Skerries lineup eager to make amends against Rainey but they didn’t take too long to find their rhythm.
It wouldn’t be unfair to suggest that Skerries haven’t always been the quickest out of the blocks this season, but they drew first blood on this occasion, when a quick tap penalty from Shane Hannon teed up Peter O’Neill on the charge and the number eight barrelled over for his fifth try of the campaign inside the opening five minutes.
Ronan Mulcahy – steering the side from the pivotal out-half position this week – added the conversion in what was to be another impressive points haul for the prolific kicker.
Rainey’s most recent visit to Holmpatrick in January proved to be a ding-dong battle and it became clear that this was going to be a similar story, when some superb interplay from the outside backs saw Ross McLaughlin put Killene Thornton into the gap and the centre raced away to touch down.
With the conversion missed, Skerries held the edge at 7-5 until a high tackle on the rampaging Mikey Sherlock gave Mulcahy the chance to extend the lead from the tee on 15 minutes and he duly converted to make it 10-5.
Rainey had a chance to respond with a penalty of their own soon after, but the kick fell just wide and Skerries then enjoyed an extended period of dominance, only for errors at the breakdown to cost them any further extension of the lead.
Skerries at least had another three points to show for their efforts, when Mulcahy kicked what will likely be one of the easier kicks of the season, but with Paddy Finn in the sinbin, Rainey responded in kind as scrum-half Ryan Davis sneaked through from the base of a ruck to touch down under the posts for a try converted by Scott McLean.
Disappointed to only lead by a single point at that stage, the hosts went in search of another score before half-time and it duly arrived after some good work up front sucked in the defence and Mulcahy and then Kevin McGrath fed Taidgh Keane Boylan, and the winger stepped inside his opposite number to score.
Mulcahy was off target this time with the conversion this time but the kick brought the half to a close with Skerries leading by 18-12.
With the gentle breeze in their favour for the second half, the hosts would have been eager to turn the screw, but it was the turn of the Magherafelt men to enjoy a period of dominance and the third quarter was played out mostly inside Skerries’ half.
The home side managed to repel a couple of charges but, reduced to fourteen men for the second time in the game following the sinbinning of the talismanic Sherlock, the pressure eventually told and, Rainey skipper Darren O’Neill peeled off the back of an attacking maul to register their third try of the afternoon.
Amazingly, Skerries’ first points of the second half arrived in the 72nd minute, as Mulcahy kicked another penalty to make it 21-17, but Rainey came again and took the lead for the first time of the afternoon with just six minutes left, when Andrew Donaghy raced through to touchdown in the right corner from a break conjured from nothing by Thornton.
With the conversion missed, it left only the minimum between the sides and Skerries’ experience in building a winning score once again bore fruit.
The initial foray into Rainey territory went to nothing but when a barnstorming run from Ben McKiernan brought Skerries back to just outside the ’22 and yielded an infringement at the ruck, up stepped Mulcahy to strike the winning kick to the delight of the home bench and supporters.
Check out the match photo gallery here.
Skerries versus Rainey
15. Jack Litchfield
14. Taidgh Keane-Boylan
13. Kevin McGrath
12. Mike Sherlock
11. Tim Deering
10. Ronan Mulcahy
9. Shane Hannon
1. Trevor Scuffil
2. Kieran Leonard (capt)
3. Evann Shelley
4. Ben McKiernan
5. Sam Deering
6. Alex Cleary
7. Paddy Finn
8. Peter O’Neill
16. Cal Marrey
17. Tomás O’Donovan
18. Jack McGregor
19. Paul O’Loghlen
20. Luke Mitchell