Henderson steals the show at Judges Road

The game was over as a contest at half-time when Derry had secured a four try bonus point and were 28-0 in front.

This is the Judges Road men’s fourth Ulster League victory on the bounce having already defeated Malone, Rainey and Ards.

They now face Queens at home this Saturday in the Ulster League ahead of their first All Ireland League fixture at home to University College Cork, on Saturday, September 28.

City of Derry Assistant Coach Ashley Blair said after the game “We played well for the first 30 minutes but lost our way a bit after that.

“We are delighted with the new boys who came in today and put their hands up for places in the coming weeks. The results have been excellent so far but they will count for nothing come All Ireland League time.

“We will judge ourselves as a team on where we finish in the AIL at the end of the season. We have to remain focused and work hard in training.”

The home side were on top from the start and the game was only three minutes old when wing forward Adam Bratton powered in for an excellent try and with Peter Henderson converting Derry were 7-0 in front.

The remainder of the first half was the ‘Peter Henderson Show’ as he nailed down a Man of the Match performance.

Twelve minutes gone and it was Instonians first visit to the Derry half, they were turned over and Andrew Semple made the break to release Henderson to run in a try from the half way line.

It was all Derry and Henderson was on the mark fifteen minutes later when fellow Limavady man David Houston made the break to the Inst 22 and Henderson was on hand to finish the move with a try to the right of the posts.

Semple and captain David Funston combined five minutes later to release the ubiquitous Henderson and he touched down again and converted as he had with his earlier scores to leave Derry leading at the break.

Early in the second half David Graham found Lewis on the wing and he used Sam McAuley as decoy before passing inside for David Graham to score and with Henderson converting to give the home side a 35-0 lead.

Mark Nicholl’s side scored again on 50 minutes when Graham and Lewis combined with Semple to send Henderson in for his fourth try which was unconverted and the lead was 40-0.

Instonians to their credit showed pride and worked hard to get some decent possession and minutes later they got themselves on the scoreboard when winger Mathew Wright got in for an unconverted try.

They got in for another try on 60 minutes, following good work from their pack that saw second row Nick McMurray power in to touch down and with Peter Magee converting and leaving the score-line 45-12.

Stephen Duffy and William McCleery were on for Derry and involved immediately. McCleery, Logue and Lewis made a break from their own half on 68 minutes and when they linked with the strong running Bratton, he took the ball forward and Duffy was on hand to beat a man to touch down.

Soon after Funston won possession at half way and off loaded to Simon Logue who sprinted in for a touchdown and Henderson converted to give Derry 52-12 lead.

Instonians came back and in the closing stages with the home defence in disarray Peter Magee kicked a 40 metre cross field pass to winger Jonny Martin who touched down for an unconverted try.

The final Derry score came on stroke of full-time when Logue again made the break and offloaded to prop Chris Shields who drew the last man to release his Newbuildings mate Chris Cooper to score a great try wide out and Henderson fittingly had the final say with a terrific conversion from the touchline to leave the final score 59-17.

City of Derry: Chris Shields, David Ferguson, Gareth Beattie, James Fawcett, Chris Cooper, Adam Bratton, Tom Patton, David Houston, Andrew Semple, Richard Peoples, Simon Logue, Ryan Campbell, David Funston, Josh Lewis, Peter Henderson. Replacements: Sam McAuley, Steven Jefferson, Stephen Duffy, David Graham, William McCleery.