AIL: Midleton ease relegation fears with vital victory over Bangor
Catch me if you can... Midleton's scum-half Kyle Read races for the line against Bangor. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
THE dark clouds that were gathering around the Towns Park in Midleton as the home side were being dragged into the Energia All Ireland League Division 2C battle lifted somewhat on Saturday.
A first win at home since mid-October came much to the delight and relief of their loyal home fans.
This bonus point win was a big boost to Midleton who are celebrating their 25th season playing in the All Ireland League and are now six points clear of the relegation zone with just five games left.
Three minutes into the second half Midleton held a 20-point advantage, but with 10 minutes remaining, this lead was down to a single point, and many felt that Midleton were yet again going to squander another lead, but to their credit, they rallied in the final minutes to secure the victory.
The early stages of the contest saw both sides kick for territory as both full-backs were showing their skills. Bangor’s Ryan Young proved illusive as he ran at the Midleton defence, and his opposite number Adam Malone was solid at anything the visitors threw at him.
Stuart Lee opened the scoring for Midleton with a penalty after eight minutes and he doubled their advantage with another effort three minutes later. He was then off target with an easy effort after 15 minutes.
An intercept by Midleton winger Cillian Lynch saw him race the length of the field to touch down, but the try was disallowed after a flagging by the touch judge for foul play, and from the resulting penalty for Bangor, Rhys Larmour converted to make it a 6-3 game.
An eight-minute spell before halftime yielded four tries with three for the home side.
Lynch scored two of them, the first coming in the corner after great build-up play involving Conor Smiddy, Lee, and Jack Colbert. Three minutes later Lynch was in for his second try to put Midleton 16-3 ahead.
Bangor were awarded a penalty try after Midleton were penalised for collapsing a scrum under the posts.
From the restart, a Bangor clearance was blocked down and scrum-half Kyle Read was up quickly to score under the posts and Lee converted for a 23-10 halftime lead for the home side.
Three minutes into the second half Midleton secured the bonus point when from a lineout, the ball went out the back line and Ritchie Daly touched down and Lee’s conversion made it 30-10. Bangor who were having the better of the exchanges at scrum time were awarded a few penalties close to the Midleton line but could not convert their possession into scores.
Then in a seven-minute spell in the final quarter, the Ulster sides were back in the game with three tries. The first on 63 minutes saw Conor Scollan touch down after good build-up play by Declan Horrox and Andrew Smyth. Four minutes later the opposite winger Daniel Young was on hand to score, and Larmour converted to make it 30-22.
A Bangor move involving Gareth Millar, Ryan Young, and Daniel Young was held up short of the line. From the resulting scrum Bangor were awarded their second penalty try to make it a one-point game with ten minutes remaining.
The Ulster side with their tails up went in search of a winning score, but it was Midleton who held firm and rocked the visitors with a fifth try when Malone touched town and Lee converted to secure the points.
C Lynch 2 tries, K Read, R Daly, A Malone tries, S Lee 3 cons, 2 pens.
C Scollan, D Young tries, 2 pen tries, R Larmour pen, con.
A Malone; A Leahy, R Daly, J Colbert, C Lynch; S Lee, K Read; E Lordan Bailey, D O’Sullivan, C Smiddy; R Lehane, D Broderick; M Stanton, F McCarthy, J du Toit,
M Corby, F O’Connell, J Deady, G Collins, J Power.
R Young; D Young, A McIvor, M Widdowson, C Scollan; G Millar, R Larmour; A Jackson, B Morgan, J Leary; W Brown, J Nelson; T Boyd, A Smyth, D Horrox.
A Shaw, O McIlmurray, H Watson, R Latimer, J Cavanagh.
M Scanlon (IRFU).
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