Ophir 2's VS Carrick 3's

Carrick 3’s vs Ophir 2’s

On Saturday 21st October Ophir made the short trip up the road to the Woodlawn grounds to face neighbours Carrick in the highly anticipated local derby . 

Ophir 2’s where able to field a full 15 players for the 1st time this season which was an excellent achievement considering the 1st 15 had taken 17 players for their home fixture against Cooke. Four of these 15 players where debutants putting on the Ophir jersey for the very 1st time . Credit to Director of rugby Robert Press and Skipper Michael Doyle for all their hard work behind the scenes to make this possible . Hat off to you guys . 

With Storm Brian at his work over the weekend the game was deemed safe to proceed by local weather representative “Big Fish”

1st Half 

With difficult and wet conditions underfoot and an extremely strong wind it was going to prove to be a testing afternoon for both parties . Ophir kicked off proceedings with debutant out-half Jones kicking off into the strong wind . The Ophir pack managed to retain possession and take it to Carrick pack . Unfortunately the ball was eventually turned over and Carrick broke away to score in the corner against the run of play . This unfortunately appeared to be a familiar pattern with dropped balls and stray kicks and a few more tries where to follow with Carrick capitalising on the Ophir mistakes . Ophir did sustain some good passages of play with halfbacks jones and mcilhenny linking well together bossing the back line and some great ball carrying from Smith Press Doyle and McClintock in the forward pack . The closest Ophir came to a try was when Veteran number 8 Gray peeled off the back of a scrum and popped to centre Mclaughlin who bull dozed his way through the Carrick back line only to be stopped short of the try line by some great cover play by Carrick . The try of the match came in the 1st half going to Carrick’s 20 stone 6ft 6 winger (David Ferris) who caught a stray kick on the half way line and managed to bulldoze his way through the Ophir defence and score a great solo try under the posts (he’s a work colleague of mine and gave me a sky diver for putting this in the report ) . 

Half time Carrick 21 -0 Ophir 

2nd half 

The 2nd half was a similar outcome to the 1st half with Ophir applying a lot of pressure but just unable to convert at the last hurdle . Again Carrick capitalised on the silly mistakes and ran in a few more try’s . The highlight of the 2nd half from Ophirs perspective was when debutant Dwayne Qiolele intercepted a stray Carrick lineout throw and made a charging run towards the Carrick tryline . As Qiolele was what looked like was going to be put into touch managed to throw a spectacular behind the back pass to find Brownlee who was also brilliant around the park making a nuisance of himself at every given opportunity. Brownlee was stopped short of the try line .

Final score Carrick 42 - 0 Ophir 

Big shout out to the debutant Brothers Darren and David who played in the half back positions and both at times looked like season professionals interlinking exceptionally well with each other and the entire backline . Older brother Darren hadn’t played a competitive game of rugby for over 20 years and put in a great shift . Proud moment for the 2 brothers . After the game Gavin Robinson said he was delighted as this was the 1st time in the last 10 years he wasn’t the oldest player on the pitch and had someone to share his Werther Originals with after the game . 

The younger and better looking brother David also hadn’t played a game of rugby in 6 years since leaving school . David also had a solid game and looks a great prospect in the making . 

Conal made his debut at full back and also put in a great shift in his 1st ever game of competitive rugby . Unfortunately Conal injured his leg at the death and had to be helped off the field . Hopefully not to serious and wish him a speedy recovery 

Man of the match goes to debutant flanker Dwayne Qiolele who’s work rate technique aggression around the park was 2nd to none putting his body on the line time and time again 

Thank-you gentlemen for stepping up and helping our wee club out . Most appreciated and welcome to Ophir 

Last mention goes to Ronan Mccann who did not drop one ball throughout the game in the stormy wet treacherous conditions . I actually don’t recall the ball going out a far as the wing mind you !! 

Next week Ophir 2’s travel to the Glynn to face larne 3’s . Big push for all the selected 2nd fifteen to train Thursday evening to have a crack in this certainly winnable game . 

Written by Neil Gray

1. Gavin Robinson
2. James Brownlee
3. Adam Smith
4. James McClintock 
5. Bobby Press 
6. Dwayne Qiolele
7. Michael Doyle
8. Neil Gray
9. Dave Mcilhenny 
10. Darren Jones 
11. Richard Burns
12. Ronan McCann
13. Kev McLaughlin 
14. John Doyle
15. Conal Galen