Enniskillen 1st XV 21 Cooke 1st XV 12

Enniskillen 1st XV registered a third consecutive win last Saturday at home, defeating visitors Cooke in an important league encounter to keep Skins battling to get into the upper half of the league table alongside their recent cup successes.

And it was a win that pleased Skins’ Head Coach, Stevie Welsh.

“It is great to get another win. Cooke have been doing well in the league and we let ourselves down up there against them so it was good to get the better of things this time.

“That’s three wins in a row now, but it is about just taking it one game at a time,” said Welsh.

Skins have faced some tough games in recent weeks and that continues this Saturday with an away game against Ballyclare.

“It is a tough one, but we have done well before away to them and we’ll certainly be going there looking for the win,” added Welsh.

Cooke had all the ball early on and brought attack up to the Skins’ try line but for a James Carleton turnover to relieve the pressure.

Early scrum penalties to the big Cooke pack gave them a foothold but Skins did well to keep them out and their first kick at goal drifted wide.

When Skins did finally get some ball they launched a stellar maul from their own half, claiming a penalty and working their way to the try line.

Protests

Neil Rutledge crossed the line but was deemed held up, much to the protests of the perplexed supporters.

Skins maintained pressure from the kick-out however and battled their way back – Gavin Parke eventually crossing for the first score, converted by Daire Hill to go 7-0 up.

Caught short on the blindside, Cooke broke down the wing shortly after the restart for easy yards into Enniskillen’s half and scored as then shifted the ball wide after a few carries against a scrambling defence, with the score now 7-5.

It was a slow next 10 minutes spent in the middle of the pitch as the two sides exchanged blows until Daire Hill cut through off a nice pass from Nick Finlay, but he got just short of the line and unfortunately knocked on; the resultant Cooke scrum getting the side out of trouble again.

Cooke had a shot at goal before the close of the half but it fell short, leaving the half-time score 7-5.

Cooke had a strong period of territory in the second half but some big carries from Jack and Neil Rutledge broke through to bring play to the Cooke 22’.

Skins had the home side on the back foot but they failed to execute and ended up back on half way.

Opportunity

Thankfully, another opportunity came thanks to the feet of Sam Balfour who weaved through the defence on half way to bring play inside the 22’, the support was quick on his tail and the attack continued through a monstrous carry from Oisín Timoney, before the ball went wide to Daire Hill, who crossed for a score, converted to lead 14-5.

A penalty on half way at the breakdown gave Skins another way back into the Cooke half and Skins began to batter the try line defence, with Gavin Parke eventually crossing after multiple penalties and a Yellow Card conceded from the visitors, converted to lead 21-5.

It was a tense final quarter for Skins who will rue not capitalising on their numerical advantage.

A fumble at the restart gave Cooke the advantage and they built a platform which ended with a score under the posts from 10 metres out – trailing only 21-12 now.

Skins settled, however, and kept Cooke at bay for the remainder of the fixture; final score, 21-12.

It was a solid performance from Skins against a Cooke side who have had great success this season.

There are still plenty of areas to improve on but Skins continue to develop week to week while there are glimpses of excellence when things fall into place.

Hopefully, the 1st XV can continue this momentum as they face a stark challenge away to Ballyclare this weekend.