Letterkenny Rugby Club made it six wins in a row on Saturday when they defeated Newry.
Letterkenny 28 Newry 21
Letterkenny started the more positive of the two when they won a penalty just inside their own half.
Brian McGinley kicked deep in to the corner to give Letterkenny an attacking lineout five metres from the Newry try line. From the lineout, Letterkenny powered over through the drive and determination of prop Dave Ward.
McGinley added the difficult conversion and Letterkenny led 7-0.
Newry struck back with some encouraging play of their own and through continued pressure, they manufactured a penalty of their own. However the wind proving difficult, caused the ball to drift just wide of the posts.
Following the restart, flyhalf Darragh McConnell got his backline moving well and Letterkenny found space down the left hand side of the pitch.
Christopher Digimas, looking fairly comfortable in open space, made yards down the wing before supplying the inside pass to Chris Peterson.
Peterson made further yards before scrum half Fogarty spread the ball wide. Seeing the gap, second row and regular try-scorer Ciaran Clarke slipped in beneath the posts for Letterkenny’s second score of the game.
The third score of the game came just on the turn of half time when James Sweeney made his second electrifying break of the game up through the centre of the Newry defence.
After good ball presentation and some clean rucking from Kevin Callaghan, James Lee McLoughlin was on hand to crash over. McGinley once more made the conversion look easy bringing the half to a close at 21-0.
After the break Letterkenny received the kick off but their exit strategy let them down and Newry were on hand to pounce on the mistake.
Their fullback, running off the shoulder of the Newry winger, took the pop ball and skipped beneath the posts for a well needed lifeline.
Letterkenny heaped on the pressure and their fourth try eventually came through their captain Dave Brown when he picked from the base of the dominant Letterkenny scrum and fended off the attention of two would be tacklers. McGinley redeemed himself with another fine conversion and Letterkenny led 28-7.
Newry rallied and came back to within one score with ten minutes to go.
Letterkenny however, steadied the ship and following some tidy and efficient play, were able to see out the remainder of the game and record another victory.
