The mighty Thirds dominate at Dromore

Dromore III...8City Of Derry III...27

THE 'Mighty City of Derry Thirds' travelled to Dromore on Saturday for a 12.30pm kick-off and not surprisingly this left it tight to get there on time, so with minutes to spare Derry finally arrived after some poor navigation from qualified map readers.

A quick change, no warm up and no inspirational team talks it was no surprise that Dromore drew first blood.

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However this was just another opportunity to reveal the team spirit and resilience, as when under the gun Derry III's rose to the challenge.

Scrum-half Marty Moran showed his alertness and pace to break down the blind side and score.

So with the Derry III's more confident they began to show glimpses of what they could do; a line out five meters out presented the perfect opportunity to demonstrate that the hours spent training can actually pay off.

A well executed line out perfectly set up presented Mickey O'Kane the easiest try he has ever scored. The power of the forwards, and the co-ordination made it look some simple as the pack drove Dromore over their own line.

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The pack of forwards which had plenty of experience and muscle started to exert their dominance at scrum time.

On more than one occasion the Dromore front row collapsed under the sheer power and weight of Russell Doherty, Mickey O'Kane and Tomas Muricas. The pack had a big say in the outcome and the experience of Peter Corr enabled a controlled and purposeful performance.

Dromore finished the half with a penalty leaving it 8-10 at half time. The game was halted abruptly when the referee was hit smack in the face at point blank range by Stevie Brennan's clearance kick.

The second half was completely dominated by the visitors. Three tries and some excellent defensive worked sealed a well deserved victory.

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A special mention must go to Paul Kearney, it must not have been an easy decision to abandon the almighty fours and turn out for the three's, but that he did, Paul was charging down kicks tackling in defence and was rewarded for his endeavours by scoring a try in the corner, like all good wingers should do.

Stevie Brennan playing at out-half controlled the game well and is beginning to show his class as his confidence returns after a spell out with injury.

Emmett Glen playing as a flanker was again unstoppable and charged over the line to wrap up the scoring.

There were other very memorable moments in the game but once the final whistle went everyone was friends again.

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City of Derry III's sitting in second place entertain third place CIYMS on Saturday, March 27 and with only three league game remaining this game will have a major influence on deciding which of these two teams will receive the runner up spot, and hence promotion to junior 4 next season.

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