Enniskillen 1st XV 36 Portadown 1st XV 12

Skins 1st XV passed their first hurdle in their Towns’ Cup title defence last weekend hosting Portadown, putting in a convincing five try win over the visitors.

Speaking after the game, Skins coach Stevie Welsh was delighted with his side’s performance.

“We started the game well and took control and took the game to the and for the majority of it we stuck to the game plan and it was nice to score five tries,” said the Skins coach.

As holders, there is extra incentive for opposing teams but Welsh was pleased with how his side went about things to set up a next round tie away to Dromore.

“It was great. In cup rugby anything could happen but we were pretty controlled apart from a wee blip.”

Looking ahead to Dromore Welsh added: “We are happy enough. We have beat them twice [in the league] but it’s cup rugby so we won’t count our chickens just yet.”

Early pressure

Skins exerted pressure well early on with Portadown holding them to the middle of the pitch before a nice line from Nick Finlay and offload interplay between Neil Rutledge and Matty Graham brought play well into the 22’.

Portadown worked well to keep out a maul from the line out but off a resultant scrum James Carleton crossed for the first score after a handful of pick and gos, converted by Nick Finlay.

A scrum penalty in midfield shortly afterwards gave Skins another opportunity for territory and Lendrum duly kicked for a line out just outside the 22.

From the lineout Skins punched through the defence and moved the ball well from left to right before James Ferguson at 13 found a gap to score under the posts which was converted to lead 14-0.

Portadown tried to mount an attack but errors made it difficult for them to gain a foothold in the game.

Soon after, from another solid set piece, the Skins backline made their way to the try line, an effort from Ferguson was deemed short and on a couple of occasions Skins probably should have got over the line sooner, a spectacular skip pass from Lendrum almost creating a score, but eventually Warrington crossed in the corner after a few short range efforts following a scrum.

Portadown mounted a response now and soon had a lineout set up on the Skins five metre line, but a crucial steal from Michael Rooney turned possession and Lendrum’s boot returned play to the half way line.

The second half came into life early on with an impressive break from Jordan Hylton, powering through the defence in midfield and using his pace to bring play to the five metre line. The attack did well to provide prompt support and David Buchanan was stopped just short of the line with Steven Fox finishing off the passage with another score, converted once again from Finlay.

Portadown pressured well from the restart and had themselves camped outside the Skins try line, but another lineout steal from Enniskillen ended another effort from the frustrated visitors.

Consecutive penalties gave Portadown plenty of territory and it took strong defence to keep them out at times, Rutledge and Fox repelling what looked like a sure score. A fumble from the breakdown ruined Skins’ attempted exit, however, and Portadown capitalised by crossing under the posts, for admittedly a deserved try given their long period of pressure.

Another Portadown score came shortly afterwards when Skins were caught badly narrow off an attacking scrum for Portadown, their centre enjoying an unimpeded run from the halfway almost to the tryline before meeting the scrambling defence and offloading to the wing to score.

Quick response

The Skins response was immediate as Mark O’Shea retained ball off the restart and the forwards showed their physicality by punching through the Portadown defence with Gavin Parke gaining good yards. Skins went through the phases well before the ball went wide again for James Ferguson to break two attempted tackles and offload to Hylton for a well deserved score in the corner.

Skins looked sure to score again shortly afterwards as they worked their way to the line and were granted a lineout in the corner after a penalty from an under pressure Portadown. The resultant maul was stopped short of the line and Skins were penalised then for a breakdown error and ended up back on their half way. Again they worked their way to the Portadown line but were held up and the visitors exited once again as the game came to an end finishing 36-12.

It was a dominant performance from Enniskillen against a side who defended admirably but had very little ball to attack with.

The Skins set piece was solid and the forwards continue to show a good skillset in attack with the backline looking threatening too, however, there were still scoring opportunities Skins will look back on that will need to be converted against stronger opposition.

Skins will not have much time to rest on their laurels as they faced Clogher Valley last night (Wednesday) at the Cran before hosting Grosvenor on Saturday.