Enniskillen Ladies lose out to Queens in final league game

Enniskillen Ladies welcomed Queens to Mullaghmeen for their final mini league game and it was the visitors who were to leave with the spoils.

Despite the windy conditions it was a great dry day for attacking rugby and the previous fixture in Belfast was open and fast flowing.

Skins elected to receive the kick off and after a great first phase of play, they carried themselves, with interlinking forwards and backs play, to the Queens five metre line. It was unlucky to be penalised then for a holding on offence.

Great phases of play from both teams then followed for 25 minutes with only penalties stopping scoring opportunities and causing possession to be turned over.

What might have been a pivotal point of the first half was a harsh yellow card to Captain for the day, Lucy Thompson for what only the referee seen as a high tackle could have tipped things towards Queens, but it only seemed to inspire the Skins ladies.

Big collisions and super fast phases of play, unfortunately interrupted by too many whistles for penalties continued until Zara Flack, Jessica Murray and Lucy Thompson put together lovely runs on the left wing.

Nadine Hunter carried it almost to the line with the mighty help of Tammy Millar and Moya Hill and then it went wide left from Cora Balfour to Zara Flack to run in from 15 metres. Farrah Cartin McCloskey narrowly missed the conversion.

The resulting kick off almost ended up in a try for Skins with strong carries from Ashling Maguire and Sophie Barrett then linking up with Cartin McCloskey and Lucy Thompson out wide on the left but this again was interrupted by yet another penalty. The next whistle was for half time with Skins leading 5-0.

Early Queens pressure started straight away from the kick off of the second half and this lead to multiple phases of play in the Skins 22. After an immense amount of tackling by the Skins pack, the clever Queens scrum half got the ball wide to their left winger who scored. The conversion was missed to leave it 5-5.

The pressure continued to come all from the Belfast girls but loads of strong defence kept them at bay. There were also sporadic bursts into the Queens half but for too short a time before a mistake or a penalty let them off the hook. The next attack from Queens resulted in a try under the posts and it was all the pressure starting to tell as a few injuries also took their toll. With the conversion added it made it 5-12 to Queens.

More injuries to key Skins players occurred and with two Skins players down receiving treatment, and without the referee stopping play, the Queens backs threw the ball wide and went in again for what seemed a score that may not have been allowed.

The final acts of an entertaining game saw the Skins wingers yet again get their hands on the ball and Karla Wiggins, Ciara Mulvey and Dearbhla Dillon (playing her debut match) almost made the try line. Not to be on this occasion but it still left time for Dillon to make an excellent final tackle of the match causing her opposite number to drop the ball and the final whistle resulted. Player of the Match was Tammy Millar.

Although this game was lost and the Ladies were both frustrated and disappointed by the result, it acted as a superb warm up for their big Semi Final match away to Malone RFC next Sunday. That game may well define the Skins Ladies inaugural season and a large travelling support would be greatly welcomed.

Kick off is at 2.00pm at Malone RFC on Sunday February 26.