Rainey ES fight back to earn replay

Rainey ES fight back to earn replay

 

On Saturday 20th February the ‘P Keenan Road Surfacing’ sponsored Rainey ES hosted Regent House in the Quarter final of the Subsidiary Shield. Rainey had lost narrowly to Regent in September so were prepared for a tough game.

Rainey started the game brightly and after fine forward play from Andrew Hawe and Wallace Bruce got the first points of the game when Lorcan Quinn kicked a penalty. The home side lost the injured Cameron Stewart to injury and his influence proved to have an effect on the later stages of the game. Regent gradually began to take control of the game. Rainey were finding it very difficult to get possession. Excellent tackling from Andrew Nevin and Mark Mulholland prevented certain scores. However, it was only a matter of time before the pressure told and Regent crossed the Rainey line twice to give them a 10 3 lead. On a rare trip into the Regent half Matthew Smyth was very unlucky not to score a try for Rainey. However, after some strong carrying from Adam Thornton and Matthew Gordon Regent were penalised and Lorcan Quinn was successful with his kick to narrow the score to 10 6. But with half time approaching Rainey gave away a soft penalty which Regent converted to give them a 13 6 advantage.

During the half time break Rainey knew they had to really improve in the 2nd half if they were to get anything out of the game. They started the half with promise, with Neal Hastings providing them with a lot of excellent lineout ball. A period of sustained pressure which involved Anton Lupari on a number of occasions resulted in a Rainey try. Andrew Brown and Richard Winder both broke tackles before Lorcan Quinn spotted a gap which he darted through to touch down. He converted his own try from a tight angle to level the scores at 13 13.

The Magherafelt boys then suffered a double blow when within a short period of time they lost Captain Andrew Brown and point’s scorer Lorcan Quinn in quick succession. For the final 20 minutes the game swung both ways with each side enjoying periods of dominance. Regent kicked a lot to gain territory but this was comfortably dealt with by Matthew Mulholland and Michael Lynn. David Atkinson began a promising attack which also involved William Drennan and Stephane Bergeron but unfortunately it came to nothing. With the last play of the game Regent had a chance with a difficult long range penalty but to the relief of the Rainey supporters it was pushed wide. The referee sounded his whistle for a 13 13 draw.

Rainey were well below their bet in this game and were relieved to get the opportunity of a replay. Hopefully, in the replay they wouldn’t play as badly again.

The Danske Bank Subsidiary Shield Quarter Final replay is on Wednesday 24th February in Newtownards at 2.30pm.

Other fixtures this week include the U12s who are at home to Foyle College on Friday 26th February. The game is at home with a 1.45pm kick off. On Saturday 27th February the Medallion, U14s and U13s are away to Carrickfergus GS. Best wishes to all the Rainey teams. All support welcome.