Letterkenny RFC U-18s lose out to Enniskillen

Letterkenny RFC women’s U18 team lost out to Enniskillen in an entertaining encounter at the weekend.

Letterkenny 12

Enniskillen 38

This match was played as a 12-a-side match, with the result that there was a lot of space on the pitch.

The home team started well and a great run by Rebecca Bradley put them into their opponents’ half where play ebbed and flowed. Letterkenny were well served by Jade Duffy and Clara Lowry both tackling and in the loose.

Suddenly the Enniskillen centre (an Ulster player) broke away and ran half the length of the pitch to score under the posts. The same situation followed a few more times where the big pitch suited the opponents. Letterkenny were always in the game, but Enniskillen seemed to break away on the big pitch and relieve the pressure.

Great tackling by Allanah Boyle and Jasmin Sparks repelled many attacks. In the forwards Ava McAuley and captain Hannah Callaghan were prominent as was Emma Curran who really put herself about the pitch.

After an excellent tackle by Rebecca Bradley, a back line move including Rosa Quinn and Derbhla Boyle and including nearly all the backs, resulted in Marybeth McBrearty flying over the line from 25 yards for a brilliant try. The difficult conversion was narrowly missed.

Letterkenny went on the attack again and after  great runs by Rosa Quinn and Clara Lowry, Rebecca Bradley broke through and Letterkenny were held up close to the line. Eventually the home team were rewarded when Rebecca  dived over under the post safter twisting and turning for 15 yards, ably converted by Marybeth McBrearty.

The score would suggest that Letterkenny were well beaten, but nothing could be further from the truth. This was a very even match and on reflection, with a full 15 lined out, this would have been a very close match