Cup holders, Dungannon opened their defence of the trophy in fine style at Hatrick Park but they had to endure a shaky start against a determined Rainey outfit.
The breakthrough came on twenty-one minutes. Ben Howard powered forward and a quickly taken free by Ali Birch caught the home side within ten meters. Michael Lawton converted the close range penalty. 0 – 3
Following the restart Stuart McCloskey made a break that was carried on by Paul McKenzie. When checked Dungannon moved the ball left for Mark Jenkinson to touch down on twenty-three minutes. Michael Lawton added the extras. 10 – 10
Back came Rainey with some good forward driving before they granted Dungannon an absolute gift. Scrumhalf, Peter Sciascia tried to run the ball from defence but his pass to Clarke was intercepted. David Egner grabbed the chance with both hands to give Dungannon a lead at the break. 0 – 15
Rainey were more than happy to be just 15 points adrift at the break but Dungannon were to produce a dazzling third quarter that yielded four tries.
Ali Birch ran sixty metres for the first on forty-one minutes before Michael Lawton and Paul McKenzie sent Stuart McCloskey clear. Michael Lawton popped over the conversion to on fifty minutes. 0 – 27
The introduction of Chris Cochrane in the second half was a key factor in the next score. Chris broke clear from defence before sending Michael Lawton away for a seven pointer on fifty-four minutes. 0 – 34
Three minutes later Adam Duhig touched down in the left hand corner following an angled kick from Jaryd Bennett. 0 – 39
Rainey now had a mountain to climb in the final quarter and while they went on the offensive on several occasions they could neither open their account nor prevent Lawton and Egner from completing their braces on sixty-one and
sixty-eight minutes. Michael Lawton converted his own try while Stuart McCloskey added the extras to his try. 0 – 53
This ended the scoring on what was a satisfactory afternoon for Dungannon.
Dungannon: Mark O’Shea, Michael Lawton, Paul McKenzie, Stuart McCloskey, David Egner, Jaryd Bennett, Michael Kirkwood, Glen Sinnamon, Adam Duhig, Mark Farquhar, Mark Jenkinson, Craig Miller, Rowan Halsall, Ali Birch, Derek Hall, Timothy Smith, Ben Howard, Philip Whyte, Jason Bloomfield, Christopher Cochrane.
Referee: Jonathan Peak (Instonians)
Tries: Mark Jenkinson, Ali Birch, David Egner (2), Stuart McCloskey, Adam Duhig & Michael Lawton (2).
Conversions: Michael Lawton (4) & Stuart McCloskey.
Penalty: Michael Lawton
Report and Pictures fron Dungannon RFC.
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