Enniskillen Royal coach Ashley Finlay felt his side were deserving winners as they came through a tight encounter away to Dalriada on Saturday to progress to the next round of the Schools’ Cup.

“It was obviously a tight and edgy game, but I feel we played the better rugby and deserved the win. We moved the ball very well and exploited space very well but were not as clinical as we should have been. This is something we will need to work on over the next two weeks,” he said.

ERGS had trailed late on but they showed great character to keep battling, and Outhalf Tadhg Hambly held his nerve to land a late penalty to seal the victory.

“The boys have a great attitude and have confidence in their own ability. They just kept playing and attacking and you kind of felt that we were going to get the winning score no matter what. It was great to see, given the team is pretty young this year,” added Finlay.

And Finlay was impressed with how his side didn’t let the fact that they had only a short warm-up ahead of the game affect them.

“It was always going to be difficult, travelling the whole way to Ballymoney. We arrived late, and only had about 20 minutes to warm-up.

“But it is a sign of a good team that they can turn it on when it matters regardless of other external factors that affect the preparation.”

Next up for ERGS is a meeting with a fancied Methodist College side, but Finlay says that they will be ready for the challenge.

“They have a massive pack of forwards, so trying to match their physicality will be a challenge. We have played them already this year and they beat us with relative ease that day.

“But we are not the same team that we were then – that was only our second game of the season and essentially our second game of rugby in over a year.

“We have prepared well and will be ready for a tough game. Cup rugby is made for upsets, and as a squad we know that we have a chance.”

Indeed, Finlay feels that his side are improving with each passing week.

“The boys have been improving all year long as the best is still to come. With so little rugby being played throughout the pandemic, every week has been a chance to learn lessons and improve our game.

“The last six weeks has been our best, in terms of preparation, and we have seen the rewards of this in our past few games. We will need to play our best game of the season against Methody to come away with a win but the boys will be ready for it.”