Enniskillen’s Qualifying League Two opener ended in disappointment and controversy on Saturday as they went down 38-3 away Coleraine.

The sending off of forward Jamie Johnston after only ten minutes for what appeared to be an innocuous looking incident and this left it too much of an uphill battle over the remainder of the contest.

Coach Norman Richmond was clearly frustrated by the result He highlighted the sending off as a crucial turning point but admitted there were issues in other areas and the team could have reacted better to the task at hand.

“The scoreline on Saturday was not a fair reflection of the performance delivered by the team. From the start we competed well, although I would have preferred the team to be more dominant in the opening exchanges; that said we still took a three point lead following some excellent interplay between the forwards and backs.

“To lose an influential player like Jamie in the following minutes was a blow to the team and had an ultimate effect on the final score. Additionally our lineout didn’t function as fluently as it had done in pre-season and Coleraine duly took advantage of that. Without possession our backs weren’t able to display their attacking prowess and furthermore the kicking out of hand was disappointing and immediately put us under pressure from the attacking back three of Coleraine.

“Then there was a questionable yellow card issued to Mark O’Shea in the second half which left us with 13 men and at the mercy of a well drilled team, and the scoring margin really escalated at that stage. The red card ultimately sealed our fate and it’s unfortunate as the early exchanges made for an exciting game. The final score does not reflect where this team is; Michael Cadden had a very strong game as did Kaine Holden. In the backs I felt that Paddy McCleery and Nathan Richmond’s work rate was good and stood up to the test both in attack and defence. We were missing a number of players who all return for this Saturday’s game against Ballymoney who, on their home patch, will be no easy game for us.

Richmond then highlighted the importance of moving on from this unfortunate false start and refocusing for a long season of rugby.

“I know the players are all bitterly disappointed with the result, but hopefully this is our ‘poor game of the season’, a bit like the Randalstown game away last year and I know that our captain Alan Wilkinson and the rest of the players will have a point to prove this Saturday,” he commented.