Cooke 1st XV 24 Enniskillen 1st XV 9

Enniskillen 1st XV suffered a second league defeat of the season as they went down 24-9 to Cooke at Shaw’s Bridge on Saturday.
The home side were the hungrier throughout the contest and were deserving winners with the game a timely reminder that there needs to a more balanced consistency, and hunger on display by Skins, should they wish to continue and press for top half, if not top 4, of League honours.
Cooke were first to get on the scoreboard as they converted two frees after Enniskillen were twice penalised at the scrum to give the home side an early 6-0 cushion.
However, Skins did respond and after seeing one penalty attempt slip wide, John Maguire did land one to cut the gap back to three points.
The direct, skilful running of full back Robert Baloucoune did cause problems for Cooke and he latched on to a loose Cooke kick but the back row and supporting players could not get there quick enough to secure the ball and Cooke managed to turn over possession.
Skins continued to press but Johnston was penalised after he found himself in an offside position and Cooke took advantage by slotting over the subsequent penalty to move into a 9-3 lead.
Again Skins went on to the front foot and when the home side were penalised for collapsing the maul, Maguire stepped up to kick the penalty to make it 9-6. Skins had the chance to level up the contest from another penalty but this went wide and the period that followed proved to be the turning point of the game. Winger Mark O’Shea went for an opportunistic interception but was deemed to have deliberately knocked down the ball; the referee was quick to blow his whistle and O’Shea was shown a yellow card and sent to the bin for 10 minutes, Cooke gladly took the three points leaving the scoreline 12-6 as the whistle went for half-time.
The second half started as the first ended, with Cooke attacking the Skins line. With the help of a simple two on two, and numerous missed tackles, Enniskillen let Cooke in for a very soft try which was duly converted to make it 19-6.
As the clock ticked away, Maguire hit another penalty to bring the scoreline back to 19-9. Skins tried in vain to control and force the game as it progressed, looking for that elusive try which could bring them back into losing bonus point territory. An opportunity came close in the Cooke 22 but a strange decision to kick the ball sent it dead. 
A reprisal wasn’t to be as the game proceeded and, with only minutes left on the clock, Cooke dealt the killer blow with another well-deserved try leaving the scoreline 24-9 at the finish.