Virginia    13 : 7 Letterkenny   

Letterkenny first fifteen made the long journey to Virginia short a number of their regular side and while they performed well at times during the afternoon their performance was not good enough to overcome a spirited home side whose fitness was impressive.

Playing up the incline in the first period Letterkenny had two good attacks into the home twenty two but Virginia got all their team back behind the ball on both occasions and cleared their lines. In fact in their first real advance into the Letterkenny twenty two the home side got their try when their burly right wing bull dozed his way across the line from ten metres out. An excellent kick from the conversion saw the score at 7 points to nil. The visitors lineout and scrum were working well but Virginia were on top in mauls and rucks.

And Letterkenny’s open field running while impressive at times was invariably negated at the subsequent mauls. Virginia went further ahead when their out half scored an opportunist drop goal on the twenty minute mark. Letterkenny had their chances, particularly a penalty on the Virginia twenty two but got nothing on the board up to half time.

In the second half, Letterkenny, with their lineout still on top and some excellent running from Shane Mc Art, Brian Peoples and Captain Adam Moore should have been over the Virginia line on at least three occasions inside the opening fifteen minutes but a combination of great defence from the home side and lack of supporting play denied the scores. Very much against the run of play Virginia brought the score to 13 points to nil minute when the visitors came offside at a ruck on the seventeenth minute mark.

From then to the end Letterkenny bombarded the home defence and the Virginia side lost their loose head prop to a yellow card when the referee caught him, for the umpteenth time, drop his bind under pressure from Letterkenny’s Ray Clarke. A minute later after an eight phase attack the visitors got the score they deserved when the impressive Shane Mc Art got into the left of the posts to set up a grand stand finish. Or at least it should have been, but the referee inexplicably blew the final whistle two minutes later and seven minutes short on time and the leave the visitors frustrated and to the delight of the home side who on balance probably deserved their victory for an exceptionally gritty display.

Letterkenny will possibly play well and win games this season but overall they had only themselves to blame. In a game littered with mistakes and scrappy play, hooker Jamie Boyle again impressed with Adam Moore and Dave Brown in the pack. While Shane Mc Art and Brian Peoples were most effective in the back line. An early injury to centre Andrew Gibson limited his effectiveness but he still put in two of the best tackles of the game.

Team

Benny Smith, Jamie Boyle, Ray Clarke, Dave Brown, Sean Dunleavy, Conor Dunleavy, Ben Morgan, Adam Moore( capt) Boyd Robinson, Brian Peoples, Andrew Gibson, Shane Mc Art, Conal Sheridan, Jason Daly, John Anthony Mc Fadden.

Best of luck to Dave Brown soon on his way to Brisbane in Australia, he will be sorely missed.