Thirds fight back to defeat Harlequins

It was ‘Quins who broke the deadlock with a Johnny Watson penalty before Johnny McEwan landed the first try of the game. The visitors’ perfect start continued when Andrew Scott crossed the line to give his side a 17-0 lead.

Hall hit back with a penalty for Larneand followed this up up with a try of his own when he raced through from a short pass.

Larne’s second try came from Johnny Shirley when he grabbed floated pass before crashing over to leave a four-point gap at the interval.

The home side claimed the first score of the second half thanks to another Hall penalty, but the game really opened up when veteran Stephen Marshall split the defence with Man of the Match Andrew Darragh receiving the final pass to dive over the line. Hall duly slotted the conversion between the sticks.

A final penalty was slotted by Hall only for ‘Quins full-back Ollie McDonald to land the last points of the game.

Larne: J. Butler, S. Johnston (c), D. McCann, M. Gilbert, W. Rea, S. McAlister, S. McDowell, J. McNee, A. Darragh, S. Marshall, R. Johnston, J. Hall, A. Murray, J. Shirley, C. Aston, A. Ferguson, G. Rennix, D. Robinson.

Fixtures Saturday, January 18: Monaghan v Larne; Larne II v P’down, Malone v Larne III.