Published: Thursday, 4th March, 2010 2:06pm

Ragged Skins concede seven tries

by Editorial Department

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Enniskillen 1st XV 3; Dromore 1st XV 41;

Two heads are better than one....Enniskillen's Chris Dickey and Michael Law put their heads together to take down this Dromore opponent.

Enniskillen remained entrenched in a relegation battle at the foot of the Qualifying One league after shipping a heavy defeat to top four chasing Dromore at Mullaghmeen on Saturday. What's more, the Skins face two massive games in five days as they take on the top two teams in the league, City of Derry and Armagh. Skins had no real answer to the pace and power of Dromore on the day while injuries to Gareth McCoy and then his replacment Gareth Beatty certainly made for a disjointed afternoon that resulted in a heavy defeat.

The problems for Skins started early with Dromore quickly out of the blocks and playing in the Skins 22 from the kick-off, and they were rewarded with a try after just four minutes. The visitors' big centre broke the first tackle and created a three man overlap for a simple score. The conversion just crossed the bar and an early seven point lead was established.

Skins were then hit by their double injury blow as Gareth McCoy was forced to leave the field with a broken bone in his hand and his replacement Gareth Beatty followed soon after, having hurt his shoulder in the pre-match warm-up!

Dromore had increased their lead on 13 minutes when a poor chip ahead went straight to one of their players who ran back the simplest of tries, before Keith Hurst slotted a penalty over for Skins to register what would become their only points of the game on twenty-five minutes.

Missed tackles were to be Skins' undoing as Dromore ran in their third try on the half hour mark to leave the half-time score at 17-3 to the visitors.

Things only got worse for Skins as they conceded two tries in the opening ten minutes of the second period, the first a direct consequence of a missed kick for touch which was run back for the score, the second a snipe off the base of a scrum in front of the Skins posts. Skins were being run ragged and having scored a sixth try after an hour, Dromore finished the scoring inside the last ten minutes when they created a turnover in their own 22 and went the distance for a converted try.

All-in-all a day that 'Skins will want to put behind them as they travel to face the league's two joint leaders inside five days this week, starting with City of Derry on Tuesday night. Armagh then await on Saturday in a league and junior cup 'double-header'.

Team: G Warrington, R Cathcart, D Watson, M O'Callaghan, J Carleton, D Buchanan, G Hall (capt), J Courtney, R Connor, K Hurst, C Dickey, G McCoy, A Wilkinson, M Law, M O'Shea. Subs: R Beatty and G Beatty.