Randalstown 1XV 10   Cavan 1XV 12    

Randalstown welcomed the evergreen Noel Mulholland to the fold to make his first appearance for the Ones this season. He was involved in the early moments of the game when loose Cavan rucking allowed Mulholland to turn the ball over. Good hands from the backs allowed ‘Town to rally up the pitch and only an excellent tackle by the Cavan 15 prevented a score. The game continued at a frantic pace and but both sides couldn’t convert there chances.

Then twenty minutes in, home prop David Millar twisted his knee and could play no further part. It looked like a nasty injury and the stretcher was called for by John Curry. The stretcher was brought out of the clubhouse and took to David. That was no problem, the problem was who was going to lift the big man. With everyone scratching the heads, ‘Town flanker Sammy Hyndman came over to help. However he soon retreated when he realised that he was number one contender to do a bit of lifting. Thankfully David managed to get to his feet, but could have no further part in proceedings. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery and will be back in action sooner rather than later..

 This was a quite literally a huge blow to the Home side as Millar has made a great start for the club and was key to the win the previous week. Despite being a man down, Randalstown started to dominate the breakdown area. The injury spurred the home side on but unfortunately could get the score they needed before halftime and the game remained a deadlock.

The second half began with Cavan attacking downhill. There winger made a nice break but a great tackle by Ben Winter prevented a score. Randalstown recovered and making a telling break into the Cavan 22 the ref had no choice but to award a penalty for the Home side as the Travelling side killed the ball. A candidate for prop next week, Paul Agnew, stepped up to slot the kick over. 3-0 Randalstown.

Then five minutes later the ball was shipped out by 10 Kyle Lyness and speedster Ryan McGarry got his first real chance to stretch his legs. He calmly stepped his winger and ran in for a score. Agnew once again stepped up and kicked the extras. With Cavan started to take the game to the Home side after this. Poor tackling by Randalstown allowed probably Cavans best player, their full back, to ghost through the defence and score. The conversion was missed but left Cavan with a converted score to win.

Alex Park and Sammy Hyndman where instrumental in prevented more scores by the travelling side. Dan Wilson also done well making some good breaks but Cavan’s defence held on. Dan has been sporting a beard in recent weeks, in order to intimidate opponents, but instead of having the affect of French danger man Sebastian Chabal, it is more Noel Edmonds.

Back to the game and with five minutes to go Cavan scored after a period of pressure. There out half slotted the points to give Cavan the lead for the first time. Randalstown showed real character afterwards. The ball was kicked off and Captain Wilson somehow got to the breakdown. Then the ball was recycled quickly with Park and Ryan Keating close by to retain possession. However the impressive defence forced a knock on and the resulting kick by Cavan spelled full time with the away team very relieved.

It was a battling performance by Randalstown with the pack, despite a man down, dominating large parts of the game allowing the backs to play some good rugby. This week they take on Donegal and have the long bus trip to contend with as well. The Seconds also are away to UUC and hopefully they can continue to impress. Both games have a 2.30pm kick off.

Randalstown: Anderson, Winter, Agnew, M Mulholland, McGarry, Lyness, Walker, D Millar, Finlay, Keating, M Millar, Hyndman, Park, N Mulholland, Wilson ( c )