Bangor vs Sunday's Well - All Ireland League - Match Programme - 22 January 2022

BANGOR RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB

VS

SUNDAY'S WELL RFC

SATURDAY 22 JANUARY 2022 14.30 KICK OFF

MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

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Welcome to Upritchard Park A welcome from our Club President, Ricky Armstrong As Bangor Rugby Club President for this incoming 2021/22 season, it is my absolute honour to welcome you all to Uprtichard Park for today's game. It seems like a week ago that I was first bumbling about the grounds as a kid watching my dad play rugby, a day ago that I first laced my boots up for the club myself as a mini player and only yesterday that I had the privilege of captaining the 1st XV! Yet here I am being all serious and weighty in a suit!

After the 18 months we have all had it is a lovely feeling to be back thinking and talking about rugby. it has been dark days for all recently and I think I am correct in saying that getting back to sport is a bit of normality we all have required.

I wish our Director of Rugby, Tom Rock, the senior coaching team, 1st XV captain Declan Horrox & the effervescent Club Captain Andrew Jackson, the best of luck for the upcoming season. We have had an excellent start to the campaign so as we head toward the All Ireland League in October, here’s hoping our squad can keep the momentum going. Our 2nd xv & 3rd xv get going in the next few weeks too and it is my wish that these teams have successful campaigns, but more so that EVERYONE enjoys their rugby.

Good luck to our ever growing Mini & Youth section, (Youth under the new tutelage of Stephen Montgomery and Minis under Stu McCartan), for the coming season and thank you to all the coaches and parents for your work in looking after this integral part of our club. Your continued efforts will provide the members of our adult teams in the years to come, but also we urge you all to stay involved yourselves. You are all most welcome.

Best wishes also must go to the growing Ladies section playing under the banner of ‘north down ladies’, this section goes from strength to strength, and I wish them all well this year.

A special word for all those who already volunteer within the club. Without those who give selflessly of their time to help with the organisation of teams, coaching, committee, fundraising, grounds, bar and so on, our club would not function as well as it does.

We are an ever developing and ambitious club, and with our hope of ongoing growth we are always looking for new volunteers; there is a role for everyone so if you want to help in whatever way you can, please feel free to give me a shout.

I would like to thank all our sponsors for their continued support, and I would appeal to everyone to make a conscious effort to support them during the year, most of them stuck with us through the past 18 months, which we all thank them for. All details can be found on our website.

Finally, I would like to wish all our members, their families, and friends a successful and enjoyable season and I look forward to meeting with you all during the season. Mine’s a Guinness!

Cheers Ricky ‘Tiko’ Armstrong

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A view from The Touchline Read the thoughts of our Director of Rugby, Tom Rock, on this week's game and all the latest from Upritchard Park.

Welcome to Upritchard Park for our first home All Ireland League game of 2022.

Welcome to Sunday's Well who make the long journey up to us, hoping to build on a huge victory last week.

We were outplayed at Musgrave Park before Christmas, and lucky to escape with the win. We will need to be significantly better than that today if we are to complete the double over our visitors.

I'd asked the boys for a reaction last week at Skerries after our last outing here against Ballynahinch in the Senior Cup. Our performance against 'Hinch was hugely disappointing, but pleasingly we fixed up several areas last week and were unfortunate to come away with only a losing bonus point.

Ultimately our penalty count at Skerries lost us the game, and I say penalty count rather than discipline as I felt we were unlucky to be on the wrong end of the referee's whistle too many times, and to give away two yellow cards, in what was a clean but very competitive game. Credit to Skerries though for closing out the game and picking up a valuable win which keeps them in touch with Enniscorthy at the top of the table.

We're still coping with a significant injury count, with Orran McIlmurray, Blair Morgan, David Bradford, James Henly, Karl Lamont and Adam Lowry all likely to be unavailable for some time yet. Paddy Dobie has returned to university after an impressive cameo for the 1st XV last week, and Ethan Murray has opted to return to England for a period following the conclusion of his studies.

In positive news, we see the return of Michael Ferguson and Jamie Clegg today, and Rob Gamble steps up to the starting lineup after some impressive displays from the bench.

We spoke about honesty this week, it's simple things that see us towards the top end of the league at the half way stage, and being honest with ourselves and each other about doing those things consistently is vital if we are to keep improving.

There's been a tendency to yo-yo in terms of performance in recent years, perhaps thinking we've 'cracked it' when we play well, and only being driven to work hard or deliver a performance when we have something to prove. The reality is that good sides don't rest after a good performance, they are hungry for more, and I want to see that mentality today, a hungry, focussed performance and if we deliver that then we'll win more than we lose in the second half of the year.

We have of course been regulars around the bottom of the table since re-gaining Senior status, and as a result should know better than most the fight and desire (and quality) that Sunday's Well will bring today.

Sunday's Well are a good side and will win more games between now and the end of the season, of that I have no doubt. Our job today is to ensure that we are not out enthused, that getting the win today means more to us than it does for Sunday's Well. Of course there's a lot of detail we are working hard to develop within our game too, but that can only bear fruit if you turn up and put yourself in a position to play.

If you can take in two games at once, the game between our 2s and Enniskillen down on the bottom pitch is sure to be a good one, and it's great to see a few familiar faces back in the fold this week.

Participation levels post COVID have been challenging for most clubs, and to put out a full compliment of sides this week (the 3s played at Instonians on Thursday) is a positive step, which we will be repeating next week.

Enjoy the game,

Tom

T O D A Y ' S

O P P O N E N T S

S U N D A Y ' S

W E L L

R F C

Today we welcome Sunday's Well to Upritchard Park for round eleven of the 2021/22 All Ireland League.

We escaped from our away fixture at the start of December with a last minute win courtesy of a Gareth Millar penalty. Looking back on that fixture, we can be under no illusions about the test that Sunday's Well will provide us with today. They were more physical and more accurate in the fixture at Musgrave Park, and will have felt hard done by to have lost at the death, especially as it robbed them of their maiden victory of the campaign.

They put that behind them last week, picking up their first win against Bruff courtesy of tries from Gary O’Sullivan, Billy Pope and Sean McCarthy, with Fabien Loughrey kicking five points. This win took them to level on points with Clonmel and will no doubt be keen to back that up this week and start looking up the table.

There's rumours doing the rounds of new additions to the Squad over the Christmas period, and with a win under their belt, and reinforcements to the squad, we can not afford to take them lightly today.

Today's Team: 1. Mike Mulcahy 2. Jack McHenry 3. Evan O'Connell 4. Ethan Ackland 5. Shane Desmond, 6. James Mulcahy 7. Andrew Mintern 8. Conor O'Brien 9. Fabien Loughrey, 10. Sean McCarthy 11. Maurice Daly 12. Ryan Buckley 13. Eoin Geary 14. Will Trevor 15. Gary Downey Replacements: 16. Adam Browne 17. Gary O'Sullivan 18. Mick Moynihan 19. Cormac Kelliher

L E A G U E A L L

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L E A G U E

R O U N D - U P

2 C

L A S T

W E E K ' S

R E S U L T S

E N N I S C O R T H Y O M A G H

2 7 - 1 1

2 4 - 8

C I T Y

S K E R R I E S S U N D A Y ' S

O F

1 4 - 1 3

W E L L

T U L L A M O R E

C L O N M E L D E R R Y

B A N G O R

2 0 - 1 3

1 8 - 1 0

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M I D L E T O N

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W E E K ' S

F I X T U R E S

B A N G O R

V

B R U F F C I T Y

O F

S U N D A Y ' S V

E N N I S C O R T H Y

D E R R Y

C L O N M E L

W E L L

V

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S K E R R I E S

T U L L A M O R E

M I D L E T O N

V

O M A G H

C L U B

J O H N

N E W S

M C N A B

It was with regret that the Club heard of the passing of John McNabb on Wednesday 19th January 2022, aged 75 years John joined Bangor RF&CC in the 1960s and went on to contribute greatly to the development of the Club both on and off the field. Not only was John a team captain, and an accredited Ulster Branch Coach with Minor League teams in the 60's and 70's, he also made a massive contribution to the growing administrative development of the Club. His varied roles included: Member of Club Council in 1960's which oversaw Bangor's rise to Senior status and the acquisition and development of Upritchard Park.

Club Honorary Treasurer from 1977 until 1995 and again for a short time in the 2000's International Ticket Secretary Organiser of the Club Annual Golf Competition for many years Club President 1989 – 1990 John’s funeral service will be held on Tuesday 25th January at 2:00pm in West Church , 91 Crawfordsburn Road, Bangor and afterwards at Clandeboye Cemetery (3.00 pm).

To John’s wife Julie, daughter Jennifer, son Andrew, his younger brother Robin, and the extended family circle, we extend our deepest sympathy.

C A R R I C K

T O O

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F O R

U 1 4 S

Carrick won the toss and decided to kick. The next 20 minutes of play were evenly contested with both teams competing to gain and retain the ball with play moving from 22 to 22. Both teams defended well with pressure applied from line speed and first up tackles forcing handling errors from both teams and preventing scores.

In the final few minutes of the first half Carrick’s counter rucking secured the ball and the Carrick 7 picked up the ball evaded a number of tackles, broke through the Bangor line and scored to the right of the posts, which was not converted. As the half time whistle went the score was Bangor 0 Carrick 5.

As Bangor kicked off to start the second half a determined Carrick forced a knock on and with advantage being played the ball was passed quickly to their number 12 who stepped a couple of tackles to score under the posts, which was converted. Bangor 0 – Carrick 12.

The next 10 minutes saw Bangor work their way down to the Carrick 5 metre line. Good defence by Carrick forced Bangor to gave away a penalty enabling Carrick to clear their lines.

Shortly after this passage of play Bangor won a scrum and as the ball was being passed along the backs the Carrick 12 shot the line, intercepted the pass and ran 60 meters to score under the posts. Bangor 0 Carrick 19.

Good pressure from Carrick forced Bangor to concede a penalty, a quick tap and go and good inter-play between their forwards and backs lead to their number 7 breaking Bangor’s line to score. Not converted Bangor 0 Carrick 24.

With a few minutes left to play Bangor earned a scrum on the half way line. With the ball won it was quickly passed to Sean Hynes who broke through 2 tackles to score out wide to the left of the posts. The try was not converted and the final whistle was blown. Final Score Bangor 5 – Carrick 24.

The final score does not reflect the Bangor performance. Although disappointing for the boys they should not be too downhearted. It was not only a good team performance but there were some excellent individual performances and bodes well for the rest of the season.

Report by Drew Kennedy

M A T C H S K E R R I E S

1 4 - 1 3

R E P O R T

B A N G O R

With a large crowd of spectators cheering on the home side, Bangor got the game started and immediately showed little sign of nerves as they kept play within the Skerries half, denying the home side any meaningful possession. After just 3 minutes of play, Bangor had a lineout on the left hand side of the pitch, and just inside the Skerries twenty two. With the forwards having cleanly secured the set piece, the backs now injected pace into their attack with the ball being quickly passed from left to right where it finally reached Mark Widdowson on the wing, and just over 10 metres from the goal line. Having wrong-footed the Skerries winger, Widdowson’s pace gave the retreating defenders no chance of catching him, before diving over in the corner for the first score of the game. The difficult touchline conversion attempt by Gareth Millar was unsuccessful, but Bangor had made a dream start with this early 5 point lead.

However, this euphoria was to be short-lived. A good kick by Skerries along their left hand touchline saw the ball bobble into touch close to the 5 metre line, giving Bangor the put-in at the lineout. An unusually poor throw saw the ball miss its intended Bangor catcher, instead falling into the hands of Skerries second row Tom Mulvany who had then simply to take a step forward and fall over the line to score. The conversion was missed, meaning the sides were tied at 5-5 after 7 minutes of play.

As the game progressed, Bangor found themselves repeatedly penalised for a variety of offences, with one successfully kicked by Shane Murphy to put Skerries ahead by 8-5. Bangor had the chance to level the scores once more after Millar had an opportunity following a high tackle on Shay Storey. From close to the half way line, Millar’s kick had the distance, but the ball hit the left hand upright and bounced back into play where it was safely cleared by Skerries. The high penalty count against Bangor continued to grow, despite the protestations of captain Declan Horrox, who repeatedly tried to clarify the decisions with the referee. It was ironic therefore that Horrox should be shown the yellow card following a subsequent penalty offence. Despite now being a man down, Bangor limited the points damage to just three points from another successfully kicked Skerries penalty, bringing the half time score to 11-5 Bangor started the second half in much the same way as they started the first, with plenty of tempo forcing a penalty that Millar successfully converted, narrowing the score to 11-8. Although Bangor kept up the pressure, they suffered another yellow card when Ally McIvor was judged not to have rolled away after a tackle – difficult to do when you’re being held in that position by the opposition players. Despite this setback, Bangor managed to restrict Skerries to just three more points from another kicked penalty. In fact, although now 14-8 down, Bangor were still very much in the game, and enjoying much of the attacking play.

With just over 10 minutes left to play, Bangor’s scrum eventually made its presence felt as it disrupted the Skerries put-in and won a penalty as a result. From its position just outside the Skerries twenty two, the kick for goal was the easy option. However, the call was made to kick for touch and attack again from there. Millar’s kick was right on the 5 metre line, giving his forwards the best possible position from which to attack. Although the line-outs had been hit and miss today, this one was safely taken. As the pack closed in around Horrox, the maul started its slow move forward. As Bangor’s momentum increased until they got within touching distance from the Skerries goal line, the maul was pulled down. As has been the case throughout the season so far, this would have been a straightforward penalty try decision, and one that would have given Bangor the lead by just a single point. However, the referee instead signalled a penalty advantage to Bangor and allowed play to continue.

Wisely, Bangor played on and got their due reward when the ball was once again passed to Widdowson on the wing who made the final push and scored in the corner. Although the try was worthy of celebration, the fact that Millar’s difficult conversion attempt from the touchline was missed meant that Bangor were still a point behind at 14-13, and Skerries could feel thankful that luck was on their side.

In the frenetic minutes that were left to play, Skerries had a chance to widen the gap with another penalty kick, but this time it was wide of the mark. Then it was Bangor’s turn when Millar had a similar opportunity at the other end. It was unfortunate that after all his good work with the boot, this kick was scuffed and the chance was gone. As the final whistle came shortly afterwards, the home side celebrated in the knowledge that they had escaped with the win, and kept their pressure on league leaders Enniscorthy. Bangor were left with a losing bonus point as consolation for an opportunity lost.

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Help the Club As Bangor Rugby Club Members and Supporters, we all want success for the Club on and off the field. We get so much positive feedback on the Club, and are delighted when we are are recognised in this way, but we achieve this almost exclusively on the goodwill and effort of volunteers.

As our Club grows and succeeds, the reality is we need more support, is this something you could be interested in?

We have a range of roles, with varied levels of commitment, it's fun, it's sometimes hard work, but it's always rewarding.

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