Cavan 7 Enniskillen 29

Enniskillen made it four wins out of five on Sunday with victory on the road against Cavan.

The weather conditions were perfect for a fast-flowing game and the Cavan pitch was immaculate. Enniskillen started in an untypical sluggish fashion, in contrast to Cavan, who were buoyant after a fantastic win over Queens last week and seemed to have the wind in their sails for the first 40 minutes.

The first real opportunity of the game fell to Cavan, who after some great interplay down the left flank were awarded a penalty for an Enniskillen offside.

Quick thinking saw them take a quick tap, feeding Sara Teague in the midfield who was tackled over the line by Farrah Cartin McCloskey and Lucy Thompson, who managed to hold her up for a goal line drop out to Enniskillen.

From the drop out Cavan carried hard at Enniskillen and their outside centre burst through some lacklustre tackling to score under the posts and was converted to leave it 7-0

Enniskillen still struggled to get a foothold in the game until Cavan were penalised for going off their feet at the ruck inside the Skins’ 22, and some quick thinking saw Zara Flack take a quick tap and race 85 metres, bamboozling defenders with her footwork, inside then outside, to register Skins’ first points for the day – 7-5 – and this is how it stayed until halftime.

Enniskillen started the second half with a point to prove to themselves and it wasn’t long before their trademark robust carrying game returned.

With the entire pack carrying the ball, Enniskillen found themselves deep into the Cavan 22 and hammering on the Cavan line.

At this stage, the referee was losing his patience with the Cavan ladies for consistent infringements around the ruck, and sent a Cavan player to the bin for 10 minutes.

After a knock on by Cavan in their 22, Enniskillen were awarded the scrum, the front five gave India Daley the platform she needed to pick up and power her way over the line to put Skins in front for the first time; 7-10.

Enniskillen battered away at the Cavan defence with Sophie Barrett and Ashling Maguire starting to get over the gain line.

Much to the delight of the coaches, Skins were starting to string the phases together and after several rucks the ball was released to the impressive Rebecca Beacom, who used her agility to slide between two defenders and race home from the 22 for a try, converted by Cartin McCloskey, to make it 7-17.

Enniskillen thought they were in again from a line out on the halfway; the ball was moved to Cora Balfour who hit Daley on a great line that saw her carve through the Cavan defence and then release Cartin McCloskey and Thompson in the 22, but Cavan’s defence stood strong and the ball was cleared to touch.

This young Enniskillen side were now starting to show glimpses of the expansive game that they can play.

From a tap penalty on the half way line, Skins’ pack carried hard with Rebecca Beacom making a half break. The ball was quickly recycled to Cartin McCloskey who stepped off her left to glide over the line from 15 metres. The conversion hit the post, but Skins led 7-22.

From the restart Skins produced the try of the game.

Beacom claimed the high ball inside Skins’ 22 and ran hard back at the Cavan defence. The ball was recycled to Nadine Hunter who sliced though the defence to gain another 20 metres.

After going through several phases the backs were released and they did not disappoint.

Cartin McCloskey squared up the defence to release Thompson, who beat two defenders and timed the pass to perfection to send Flack into space.

Flack returned the favour with an inside ball on the 22 and Thompson raced home to seal the win 7-29, converted by Cartin McCloskey.

This was the type of rugby that the travelling support have been used to over the years at youth level.

Next up for Skins is City of Derry at home next Saturday at 4.30pm.