Portadown 1st XV 5 Enniskillen 1st XV 26

Enniskillen 1st XV picked up an important win away to Portadown last weekend to bring themselves up into third place in the league standings, claiming another bonus point win in an arm wrestle of a fixture where Skins took their opportunities well, benefitting from a superior lineout at pivotal times and tireless defence to keep Portadown off the scoreboard.

Skins coach Stevie Welsh was pleased to see his side record back to back league wins.

“It was good to back up the Dromore win with another over Portadown. I know Portadown are sitting bottom of the table, but we never have it easy against them.

“The boys got going and it was nice to see them power on at the end. It was really pleasing to get the bonus point,” he added.

The home side came out fighting and it was clear they were up for the contest, their backs very much against the wall in the current league standings. Big hits from James Carleton and Reece Barrett kept the big Portadown pack at bay.

A crooked lineout from the home side gave Skins an opportunity and then followed a breakdown infringement, from which Skins set up camp in the opposition half.

A successful Skins lineout take went wide to George Foster, who drew the defence and somehow got an offload away to Sam Balfour who scored the first try in the corner, converted by Eddie Keys to lead 0-7.

Portadown again threatened the Skins line and and kept them under pressure, but another crooked throw gave Enniskillen an escape, and Lendrum cleared beautifully to bring play to the halfway.

Skins put some excellent phases of attack through once again, Rutledge and Rooney working well around the corner, linking in well with the back line, but the home side defended well and Skins failed to come away with anything from a long period camped inside the Portadown 22’, knock-ons and turnovers at pivotal times keeping the scoreboard as it stood to the end of the first half.

The second half started well for Skins as a deliberate slap-down in midfield gave them a line out 10 metres out. One massive carry from David Buchanan and a second by Matthew Graham had him cross the line for a score, converted by Keys to go 0-14 up.

Some good carries and a nice kick in behind from Eddie Keys had Skins threatening once again, but an interception returned play to the half way.

Portadown looked sure to score after some carries from the pack but a fumble out wide was capitalised on by George Foster, who chipped the ball downfield in Maradonna-esque coordination to be caught just 5 meters short of the Portadown try line, followed by a pause for a serious ankle injury to a Portadown player.

Play then resumed off a scrum and the ball found Mark O’Shea out wide, who handed off his defender 10 metres out to score the third, leading 0-19.

Portadown had most of the possession for some time now and eventually they found their way over the line out wide from a line out. Skins knew the bonus point was crucial and that they were in the wrong area of the pitch, pinned in their 22’ once again from the restart.

A well-timed counter ruck from Niall Keenan earned the turnover and an excellent chip from Foster – with Balfour in pursuit for a hit on the fullback – created a 50 metre swing in territory and put Skins back on the attack.

Rooney carried twice to bring play to the five metre line and Dane at scrum half hit Alan Ferguson on a perfect line past an oblivious Portadown defender to score the bonus point try, finishing proceedings at 5-26.

It was another strong performance from Enniskillen, whose backline looks much slicker than in earlier outings and the attacking threat seems to be matching the firm defensive ability.

Tests don’t get much bigger than this weekend as they take on league leaders Instonians at Mullaghmeen – a great opportunity to show how they’ve progressed.

“We are looking forward to getting them down to our pitch, I think they have only beaten us once since Ash and I have taken over.

“We know that Instonians are a good side but we will just look to play our own game, and if we can then take our chances, we would feel that we have a real chance of winning the game,” added Welsh.