Richmond praises defence as Skins good run continues

Enniskillen coach Norman Richmond was delighted with his side's performance as they made it three league wins in a row with a resounding 34-0 victory over Grosvenor at Mullaghmeen on Saturday.
The win keeps Skins hot on the heels of the top two in Qualifying Two although Richmond knows that they can't afford many slip ups if they are to maintain the pressure.
"It was another win which was very pleasing and our defence is really going well for us. I thought that Gavin Warrington and Ricky Lee were both excellent while it is good to see Jack Harte back in the back line," said Richmond. "We are now nine points behind second placed Coleraine with a game in hand and we just have to keep winning our games."
The league though takes a back seat this Saturday with Skins in Towns' Cup action away to Lurgan.
"It's the Towns' Cup this weekend and we want to get a run in it. Lurgan will undoubtedly be a test but we'll be targeting a win and our aim is to progress to the next round," said Richmond..
Having registered a cup victory at home over Grosvenor earlier in the season, and taking the away leg of the league fixtures, Enniskillen were undoubtedly pursuing a win on Saturday and perhaps a bonus point victory to keep their league aspirations alive.
The line out continued to function flawlessly and gave Skins the lion’s share of possession throughout, while the scrum contest also looked to be in Enniskillen’s favour and their dominance in this area continued to grow during the game.
Grosvenor carried ball well in the early stages and their number eight battered the Enniskillen line well but the Skins defensive organisation was excellent and the visitors struggled to find any gaps to exploit. 
Again, as in previous weeks, the home side gave away a few too many penalties when perhaps too adamant to turnover ball at the breakdown, and continued to gift Grosvenor opportunities. The visitors failed to capitalise on any of these chances however as their set piece was constantly disrupted, some good line out defence from Enniskillen spoiling many an opportunity.
After absorbing this early pressure it didn’t take Skins long to break the stalemate as Grosvenor’s defence started to present holes for the Enniskillen attack. 
The first of the home side tries came from a typically destructive Ashley Finlay counter attack as he burst down the wing and sent a chip over the top, only to recover the ball and cross the line following a fumble from the Grosvenor fullback. The next try came shortly afterwards following some good forward carrying on the half way line as rangy second row Kaine Holden found a gap just outside the Grosvenor 22 metre line and weaved through defenders to cross the line for the second try. With the floodgates seemingly open it wasn’t long before Skins were back knocking on the door once again. With a scrum awarded on the Grosvenor five metre line Enniskillen focused their efforts and the dominant Skins front row of Warrington, Cathcart and Fox drove the opposition pack relentlessly back towards their own line; Number 8 Ricky Lee carried from the back and was just kept out by the scrambling Grosvenor defence but a quick thinking Nick Finlay at scrum half picked and touched the ball down with an excellent contorted dive over the line, converted by Lendrum to leave the score 19-0 at the half.
The second half momentum remained with the home side early on with Grosvenor under severe pressure. As Grosvenor received a kick just inside their own 22 metre line the always tenacious Jack Harte, making an appearance at centre on the day, charged down the attempted clearance and Mark O’Shea was on hand to take the favourable bounce of the ball and cross the line for an early confirmation of the bonus point, converted by Lendrum. Immediately afterwards winger O’Shea was to add to his tally with an excellent counter down the wing from the restart and a beautifully reclaimed up and under to extend the lead. 
Grosvenor seemed keen to retain their pride at this stage and ended up putting in a much stronger performance in the later stages of the second half. Perhaps influenced by the ease with which some of their earlier tries had come, Enniskillen began to lose their structure in attack and they could have been much more effective in extending their lead in the second half, some handling errors and penalties cancelled out opportunities and this could have caused problems for the home side had the set piece not been so dominant on the day. The defence however rarely missed a beat and Buchanan was typically prominent in holding up attackers while Richie Johnston at flanker had another industrious tackle count.
Enniskillen readdressed their tactics towards the end and finished the game well with a kick to touch from Lendrum and a well worked catch and drive from the line out giving Michael Cadden the last score of the game from the back of the maul, ending the fixture 34-0 to the home side. This bonus point win puts Enniskillen in decent standing at third place in the league table heading into their Towns’ Cup fixture away to Lurgan this weekend.