Match Reports- 23rd, 24th & 25th September 2022
Monaghan 2nd XV vs Portadown RFC 3rd XV – Friday 23rd September 2022
Portadown 3s continued their strong start to the season a 46-22 victory away to Monaghan on Friday night.
With a team with a great deal of experience Portadown were on the scoreboard early. Some good interplay between forwards and backs lead to Frankie scoring wide out on the left.
Portadowns powerful start continued as Gareth McCoy fell over the line having taken the ball out of PKs slippery hands from a driving maul.
A small spell of indiscipline allowed Monaghan to score a opportunistic try and a well struck penalty to reduce the score to 8-10.
Garth Durrans was next over as more great link up play between the pack and outside backs. Diarmaid O’Kane made a strong carry to gain territory before the ball was worked wide for Durnsy to beat the fullback and winger in a sprint to the corner to dive over.
Ryan McCullough quickly increased the advantage with a fine solo score. Receiving a smart pass from J Hampton on the blindside of a ruck. McCullough set off from his own 10 metre line before running, and running, and running before scoring under the posts
Josh Matchett rounded off a super first half with a good score after following up a break from fly half Ashton to take a simple offload to score a well deserved try.
Half time Monaghan 8- 29 Portadown
Portadown continued to dominate the second half and vintage Dermy to McCoy circa 2013 rocket ball lead to McCoys second of the evening. As McCoy dived over, Johnny Hampton was still wondering what was going on.
Thomas Halliday was next over as showed great pace and power to force himself over after some slick passing and wonderful hands from Adam Wasylkiw.
Last up, Captain Ashton took some pre match advice from PK to throw a dummy and stretch over to score.
Monaghan refused to give up and scored a further 2 tries.
Final Score Monaghan 22-46 Portadown
Portadown RFC 2nd XV vs Omagh RFC 3rd XV
Saturday 24th September 2022
The 2nd XV hosted Omagh and played them in what was a great performance from 1-15, winning 49-7
North Down Ladies 1st XV vs Portadown Ladies 1st XV Sunday 25th September
After a long wait, Portadown Ladies kicked off their season with a victory. The scoring was opened early on by Daina Marks with a trip down the wing taking her across the line and under the posts, converted by Ellen MacMahon. This was quickly followed by a solid turnover leading to a try from forward Kirsty Jackson. Not satisfied by a single try, Kirsty followed this up with a long run from her own half with previous try scorer Daina Marks converting. North Down were a determined force during the first half and managed to slip a try into the corner before the end of the first half leaving the score at 5 – 19 by half time.
From the opening of the second half, the Ladies were keen to get more points on the board with Jennifer McCall making her first trip over the try line from the second half kick-off. With North Down still determined to give Portadown a fight, Ladies Captain Rachel Totten decided it was her turn for a trip over the try line bringing the score at 5 – 31. This was followed by Daina Marks with another superb run-in try, which is quickly becoming her signature. Multiple tries seemed to be the theme of the day for the Ladies in blue as Jennifer McCall dotted down her second try of the day, once again under the posts. As the game came to a close, a still determined North Down fought to keep the Portadown pack away from their try line but it was not meant to be as a strong forward led try was completed Kirsty Jackson, to give her the hatrick. Daina Marks ffinished the match with a final conversion to make the score 5 – 48.
Daina Marks earned Back of the match for her efforts throughout the match and Holly Bothwell secured Forward of the match for her determined playing style and incredible work rate across the park.
All in all, a comprehensive victory for the Ladies in Blue on their first trip out this season, hopefully to be followed by many more.
