Skins sank by last kick of the game
Championship One
Enniskillen 14 Ballyclare 16
FIRST and second in Championship One met and it was Ballyclare who snatched victory with a late penalty.
Skins coach Alastair reflected on a tremendous battle and climax to the league.
“We have to give Ballyclare credit for the consistency they’ve shown, not just this season, but over the past few years, challenging at the top of Championship One.
“They showed composure and a lot of ability to take the ball through all those phases, in these conditions and under that pressure, to give themselves an opportunity to win.”
Played in dismal weather conditions it was the home side who were first to attack into a strong wind.
On 10 minutes Skins were awarded a penalty which Eddie Keys missed narrowly.
Their forwards were carrying well and after a period of pressure Skins managed to force their way over for a converted try by Neil Rutledge.
After a further period when Skins had more of the play, Ballyclare managed to work their way upfield and converted the first of many penalties awarded to them.
Undaunted,enniskillen once more laid siege to the Ballyclare line and thought they had scored a second try through Niall Keenan but the referee was unsighted from his position and deemed that the play had been held up over the Ballyclare line.
From a dropout, Ballyclare made rather too easy progress up the field and converted a second penalty in front of the posts to leave it 7-6 at the half.
On 45minutes, Skins increased their lead to 14-6 when following further excellent work by the Skins’ forwards, James Carleton got over for a converted try.
For the next period of time both sides sought to box-kick and search to gain territory by long punts downfield.
Coming up to 60 minutes, Ballyclare had carried no real threat but gained encouragement when Enniskillen received the first of three yellow cards.
Skins had to play the majority of the second half with14 men.
With an extra man and given the heavy, wet and slippy ground conditions, Ballyclare gained an advantage in the scrum for a period.
From a penalty they gained a lineout on the Skins 22 but appeared to have blown their opportunity when the throw was crooked. The ball wasn’t caught and landed midfield, but Skins knocked on. The scrum was awarded to the attacking team and then the referee awarded a penalty try, to bring the score within a point.
Skins went back on the attack and despite the numerical disadvantage, created several chances, not least when Angus Keys made a 50m break from the Skins half to the opposition 22.
Play continued, with Skins having the best of territory and possession.
Ballyclare didn’t seriously threaten until the last play of the game, when, ironically, Skins drove them back in a scrum just outside the Ballyclare 22, only to be penalised and receive the third yellow.
Despite virtually every decision appearing to go against them and the fatigue of playing for so long with 14 men in the heavy conditions, the spirit of the home side could not be quenched and going into the final minutes it seemed as if Enniskillen would hang on.
Then Ballyclare, for virtually the first time in the match, retained and recycled possession to bring play to within 25 metres of the Skins line. As time was up it seemed that Enniskillen had turned the ball over in the tackle, but the referee disagreed and awarded Ballyclare a penalty which they converted to take the lead for the first time in the game, with the last kick of the match .
When asked about the yellow cards and penalty count, Keys said: “Those clearly had a massive impact on the outcome but we still created enough opportunities to put the result beyond any doubt, so we’ll look at how we can improve doing that next time.
“What I was really impressed with was the guys’ discipline in the face of those decisions, many of which seemed extremely harsh.
“There wasn’t one word of dissent, they just took it and got on with the next job, which is really important.
“That showed a lot of maturity and self control. We were also really pleased with the improvement in our defence, which is testament to the work that our coaches Connor Keys and Ray Savage have put in.
“Ballyclare were awarded a penalty try but never really looked like crossing our line this time.”
Skins have their final league game against Carrick, at home next week. Kickoff at 2.30pm.