Monaghan 2's too strong for Ophir

of the Ulster Branch Junior League. Weather conditions were ideal for a good running and handling game. And from the kick off Monaghan demonstrated they were going to do exactly that.

Despite holding possession from the kick off, the Ophir pack were overrun by the visitors and the ball stolen. In the blink of an eye it was whipped out to the left winger who jinked through several poor attempts at a tackle to touch down midway between the posts and the touchline. The conversion was good and within 5 minutes Monaghan had doubled their lead, again with a fine individual run in under the posts. 6 minutes gone and 14 - 0 down, it looked like a cricket score was on the cards. But Ophir rallied and began to gain a bit of territory - a penalty brought them to a line out within 10 metres of the Monaghan line. But the visitors skills at the breakdown meant that even though Ophir got the ball it was entirely another matter to keep it for any length of time. Patient recycling was not going to work for the Ophir men so it came down to trying to break through the Monaghan back line. And in the 20th minute the tactic worked - out half Willy Cully jinked through a tackle and back row Kevin McLoughlin was on his shoulder to take the pass and crash over the line. Full back Iarlaith Rooney unfortunately missed the conversion but at last Ophir were on the score-sheet. The remainder of the half was littered with mistakes from both teams - knocks on and forward passes prevented any further scoring but at least it was entertaining for the small crowd of supporters.

The second half began as the first had ended, with lots of errors on both sides. This, and a significant number of minor injuries, reduced the match to a fairly boring spectacle until the 15th minute when a Monaghan penalty was run short and recycled well to the right wing to touch down. The conversion put the visitors 21 - 5 ahead. Ophir were struggling to put together any decent rugby but they never stopped trying, ably led by prop Gavin Robinson, and it was only the unlucky mistakes which frustrated their efforts. But beginning to tire, the Ophir defence was not at its best and some missed tackles allowed the Monaghan left winger to score his second try of the match. And Monaghan were to have the last say in the game - despite their centre being yellow carded for the final 10 minutes of the game, his team mates sustained the pressure on the Ophir defence and were rewarded with the last try of the match, unconverted. The final score, Ophir Seconds 5, Monaghan Seconds 33.