Ladies lift title after close finish

City of Derry Ladies50

CITY of Derry Ladies pipped old rivals Old Belvedere by a point to claim the AIL Division Two North Ladies title, at the weekend.

The Judges Road girls had a 50-0 victory at Cavan Ladies and that bonus point success meant they secured the championship.

Just two minutes into the game Derry were awarded a penalty 22 metres out and out half Rachel Lennox struck the ball well and was unlucky to see it hit the upright and come back into play.

Derry pressurised the Cavan line for the next ten minutes but the Cavan defence held firm, then on 27 minutes Derry were awarded a five metre scrum and a solid scrum gave scrum half Noreen Nethercott good ball to feed the backs, a planned move saw the ball moved to winger Karen Canavan who scored near the corner. Outhalf Lennox added the points with the conversion.

Shortly after the restart Nethercott was fed off a scrum in the Cavan 22 and scampered over for a try which Lennox also converted.

The Derry girls continued to press with good driving runs by the second row partnership of Kerri Shaw and Kylie Boyle, supported by Elena Martin Pineiro, Louise Clarke and Diane Nixon.

Indeed Derry should have increased their lead after one of these runs when winger Bridin McDermott was driven over the try line by Di Nixon only for the referee to disallow the try as he deemed that the Cavan defence had held the ball up.

Cavan’s respite was short lived. With the final play of the half No 8 Di Nixon picked from the base of the scrum with Louise Clarke in support.

The ball was given to the backs and slick handling by centres Kelly Holmes and Stacey Lee Jackson saw the ball moved to winger Rachael Fleming who shrugged off her would-be tackler to score. Lennox again added the points to leave the half time score 21-0 in Derry’s favour.

The visitiors began the second half as they finished the first and following a scrum on the Cavan 22 Nethercott released the backs for what was undoubtedly the try of the day.

A planned move saw the ball moved wide to the elusive winger Rachael Fleming who drew her opposite number before giving a perfectly timed pass to supporting fullback Alana McCaffrey who dived in at the corner for the fourth and bonus point try. Lennox was unlucky to see her touchline conversion rebound off the post.

Good lineout ball, followed by swift handling by the inside backs led to winger Bridin McDermott sprinting 40 metres to score by the posts and Lennox again converted to bring the tally to 33-0.

Half way through the second half Derry took clean ball at a lineout and Nixon drove forward before shipping the ball out. Swift handling from the backline saw centre Stacey Lea Jackson scoring an unconverted try.

With five minutes remaining the pack stole ruck ball on the Cavan 22, second row Kerri Shaw took the ball at pace between the Derry centres, dummied the Cavan centre and brushed off 2 tackles before scoring beside the posts. The resulting conversion was a formality for Lennox.

The final try came with the last move of the game; captain Diane Nixon, returning after injury, looped the backs to take the ball from winger Fleming and, in a fitting end to the game, dived over to score the try that notched up the half century of points.

This win gives Derry a home fixture next Sunday against Youghal in the AIL semi final for promotion to Division 1.