McKillop out for the season

The big warrior injured his hand during the Judges Road men’s narrow but well deserved win at Nenagh Ormond a few weeks ago and is likely to be out of action for a number of weeks.

“Bob has broken his thumb, which we only learned of from last Wednesday, in the Nenagh game and he reluctantly went into the hospital to find out that it’s probably him for the rest of the season,” admitted coach Bevan Lynch.

“He’s a big loss for us but that is one position that we have got cover for so guys are going to have to step up, to be honest it’s about this time every year that Bob sort of disintegrates and we have to push on without him.”

This weekend Lynch’s side travel to Ballymena in the Ulster League, before finishing their AIL Division Three League campaign off with three tough encounters against Instonians, Highfield and Naas.

“We had a good win in Nenagh a few weeks ago now and the nature of the way we won was dramatic, but it was a deserved win and you sort of wonder how some teams end up in the middle of the table Nenagh are certainly one of those sides.

“They are a typical Munster side, who can play it wide and also play it close. Their set-piece were probably the best set-pieces we have come across so to come away with a victory was great and it was a good confidence booster, but we need to carry that momentum for the final push, starting at Ballymena, on Saturday.”

The Waterside out-fit had last weekend off but Lynch believes that should make his side even more determined to get back onto the rugby field.

“The funny thing this season is that whenever we had injuries we were playing very well and still winning, but once we got everyone fit that’s whenever we lost two games on the trot; but we have been training hard and got our fitness up over the last couple of weeks and we’ll be starting to ramp things up for the Ballymena, which is a perfect test for us into the final three AIL games.

“There is a fair bit of history between us and Ballymena, not all positives, but at the begin of the year the boys played on the edge and there should be no reason for any empathy that crept into their performances against Rainey and Ards.

“We are looking to step up again from where we left off at Nenagh and we need to do that in the Ballymena game.

“Promotion in the AIL League has been our sole target from the begin of the season and it’s still in our control and we have to make sure that we pick up three wins, which will guarantee us promotion.

“Obviously the Instonians match at Judges Road, will be a great game for us to put under our belt then we’ll move on and look at the next challenge, which will be a difficult trip down to Cork against Highfield, who are sort of making a bit of a resurgence at the moment and then we finish off with a match at home to Naas.”