Randalstown suffer early exit from Junior Cup

The Neillsbrook side suffered a disappointing 30-5 defeat at the hands of Lisburn in their opening round fixture on their own pitch.

It was a setback for Gary Longwell’s side after their bright opening to their Qualifying League Two campaign which has included impressive early season victories over Coleraine and Ballymoney

With no fewer than 10 changes in personnel, Randalstown didn’t get off to an ideal start and were struggling in the scrum against a solid Lisburn outfit who opened the scoring with a penalty just after a quarter of an hour.

‘Town had an opportunity to level the game shortly afterwards but the ball bounced back off the upright.

The forward pressure from the visitors saw them push over in the corner and add the tricky conversion to increase their tally to 10 going into the break.

From the restart ‘Town didn’t fare much better and conceded 2 further penalties and 2 converted tries.

Eventually as they entered the last quarter of the game the home side began to retain better possession and put some pressure on the Lisburn line.

They were rewarded for the effort when Andy White put Conor Murray away down the right flank for a consolation score which wasn’t converted.

The firsts will look to bounce back from their exit when they return to action this Saturday again at home and they will face another tough test when they entertain neighbours Ballymena 2nds in the conference league.

The 3rd XV are in action away to Malone.

All the world cup action will be shown on the big screen in the clubhouse and everyone is welcome.

There are still some spaces available at the pre-match lunch on Saturday afternoon.

Anyone interested in attending should Contact club chairman Adie Johnston for further details.