Adam Lendrum whips the ball away.
Kukri Qualifying League 2
Enniskillen 17
Lisburn 0
Enniskillen put the gloom of their Donaghadee venture the previous week behind them with a home victory over Lisburn last Saturday. Lisburn’s league performance has been poor of late, but Enniskillen were under no illusions about the seriousness of the contest, Lisburn being a physical and aggressive side.
The game started well for Enniskillen as they managed to retrieve their own kick and ended up deep inside the Lisburn half with good running from Mark O’Shea and some nice phases through the forwards. Eventually the ball was distributed to Ashley Finlay at first receiver who spotted some space in behind the defence and threaded a beautifully weighted grubber kick through for Zach Charlton to score in the corner, impressively converted by Adam Lendrum.
Lisburn applied some good pressure in the Skins half in the following 20 minutes after the score but the Enniskillen defence held well on their own line and the eventual turnover was well cleared from by Lendrum.
Enniskillen remained dominant throughout the first half, but a high penalty count, mostly for infringements around the ruck area, kept them deprived of possession and defending for most of the game. Additionally some impatience, forced passes and handling errors thwarted opportunities to build pressure.
In contrast, Enniskillen looked sure to score when the build-up was more methodical. A perfect example of this came just before the end of the half when the forwards and backs worked seamlessly, with the ball going the width of the field and back. Alex Gormley then dragged in defenders with a big carry before offloading to Mark O’Shea to put Ashley Finlay through a gap for another try.
Lisburn came back in search of a try, but Skins held out with some determined cover tackling to end the half 12 points to the good.
Lisburn came out in the second half keen to get on the score board, forcing Enniskillen to give away a penalty on their own 22 metre line, another let off for the home side as the Lisburn kicker was unable to find his mark.
The majority of the second half was an arm wrestle between the two teams, Lisburn probably having the lion’s share of the possession and Enniskillen defending well but failing to convert attacking opportunities.
A break from Ashley Finlay in midfield cut the Lisburn defence to pieces but the offload to James Ferguson in support was deemed forward and gave Lisburn some relief.
Soon afterwards Skins number eight Ricky Lee broke from the back of a scrum in his own half and almost put Ferguson through, but for a high tackle.
Enniskillen managed to finish the game in style with a try in the final play. Starting from a stolen Lisburn put in on half way from the front row of Warrington, Cathcart and Fox, the ball made its way out to Mark O’Shea who evaded his defender before passing to Steve Neill. Neill crossed the line for an unconverted try, leaving the score 17-0 at the final whistle.
Skins will feel aggrieved not to have got the four try bonus point from the encounter, but will be content with putting in a passionate performance after a harsh result the previous week. They will no doubt address some lapses in structure during the week before facing Rainey II this Saturday at home in the first round of the Town’s Cup.
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