Third time lucky for Judges Road outfit

CITY of Derry will finally get their All Ireland Junior Cup semi-final tie against Monivea, played at the third attempt, this Saturday, at Judges Road, (KO 2.30pm).

The two previous fruitless efforts to get the fixture played in Connaught were thwarted by the inclement weather. The original game was to be played the Saturday before Christmas when Derry travelled to Galway only for the referee Barry O'Keefe from the Leinster Branch (IRFU) to inspect the Monivea pitch thirty minutes before the kick-off and declared that the ground was unplayable.

The second attempt to complete the fixture was last Saturday when Monivea had their last chance of playing the tie at home. The Connaught rugby branch came to their aid and designated the Showground in Galway which is the Provincial Ground as the venue after their own pitch and backup grounds at Tuam and Galway failed inspections on the Friday.

Derry travelled again to Galway on the Saturday to play a 6.30pm kick-off immediately after the Magners League game between Connaught and Leinster at 4pm. City of Derry players and supporters were at the other side of Sligo at 2pm when both games at the Showgrounds were cancelled due to severe frost on the pitch.

The fixture now becomes a home game this Saturday in Derry and with the weather conditions improving since Monday everything looks set fair.

This will give City of Derry home advantage and a great chance to reach their first All Ireland Rugby Final in the club's long history. The Derry squad will not need any barnstorming team talk before they take the field on Saturday, having had to make two unnecessary abortive trips to Galway and the chance of an All Ireland Final in Athlone on Saturday, January 30, is all the motivation required.

City of Derry's last game was five weeks ago when they defeated Armagh at Judges Road to put themselves right back into the hunt to retain their Qualifying League Division 1 title.

Training has been difficult for all teams in all sports for the last three weeks, but with rugby there is a limitation in what you can do indoors with non contact the order of the day. Derry coach Bevan Lynch took his squad to Benone Beach last Saturday to get a most enjoyable and fruitful two and a half hour training session.

Lynch said earlier this week: "I was delighted to get some serious work done on Saturday last at the beach. Having not played for five weeks and with no physical contact in training for over three weeks it is not the ideal preparation for such an important game on Saturday.

"We need to be prepared mentally and physically for this challenge. This Monivea outfit were very confident of beating us when we went down there before Christmas.

"They are on a long unbeaten run and having scored twenty five try's in the last five League Fixtures they will be hard to beat. Monivea also defeated Cashel in the previous round of this cup away from home, we were well beaten last April when we went to Cashel in the All Ireland Round Robin Series so that is a gauge of the task we will have this weekend if we are to progress to the final."

City of Derry are having a members, sponsors and supporters pre match lunch at 1pm on Saturday when everyone is welcome to come along; Cost 5.