Gannon lads leave it late to claim coveted trophy

DUNGANON Rugby Club youth convenor and under-18 coach Eddie Doran wasn’t surprised to see his young charges claim a dramatic late win in the final of the Nutty Krust tournament at Chambers Park on Wednesday night of last week.

The Stevenson Park lads eased past City of Armagh in their first game of the competition before having to battle their way back from a deficit against Rainey to set up last week’s final with tournament hosts, Portadown.

The decider proved a nip and tuck affair with Alex Kennedy putting Dungannon into a 5-3 half-time lead thanks to his try. In the second period, Portadown battled back to lead 15-8 thanks to two tries, one converted.

Then the drama really started as the Tyrone side, thanks to Jack Steenson’s touchdown and  Zak Holmes conversion moved to within three points with around a minute of normal time remaining.

At that stage, they decided to kick a penalty into the corner and with the last play of the game, Caolan Donaghy provided the telling pressure to dot the ball down for the winning try before Holmes knocked over the extras to seal a thrilling 19-15 victory.

“There was never a point where I thought our chance was gone, not that side,” Doran beamed.

“I’ve known those lads, most of them, since P3. It’s in them, they’ve been in that position loads of times and they never give

up.

“And last play of the game they got the win! We never do it easy!

“We played Armagh in the first game and battered them but in the next one against Rainey we found ourselves 14-0 down and had to dig deep, but that’s Dungannon, the Dungannon way!”

Dungannon started the game in a positive mood and controlled the territory for long periods of time during the first half. Following early pressure on the Portadown line, Dungannon opened the scoring with a fine individual try from Alex Kennedy.

Dungannon continued to press the Portadown defence but, on several occasions, when they got within striking distance of the home line, a final stray pass or a lost lineout, saw the County Armagh team able to clear their line.

Despite having limited quality possession at times, Dungannon stuck to their attacking policy with Jake Callaghan, Ashley Doherty and Jack Steenson all coming close on occasions.

As it was, and close to the end of the first half, on a rare incursion into Dungannon territory, Portadown, through the efforts of Jamie Hayes, earned a penalty that Toby Gribben converted to reduce their deficit to 5-3 at the break.

Portadown started the second half strongly. They took an 8-5 lead when a long pass from Nathan Thornton found Harry McCullough with enough space to finish things off in the corner with an unconverted try.

This became 15-5 a short time later when clever work from Ciaran Peterson kept play alive and, following two quickly taken penalties, Ethan Hodgen eventually touched down for the try to which Toby Gribben added the extras.

On their first real visit to the Portadown defensive zone in the second half, Dungannon cracked their hosts resolve after some sustained pressure with Jack Steenson touching down over the whitewash for a try. Holmes added the conversion to see the scoreboard now reading Portadown 15-Dungannon 12.

This seemed to galvanise Dungannon and, with little time remaining on the clock, they launched one final attack. Good work from Alex Kennedy and Ashley Doherty, presented Caolan Donaghy with the opportunity to finish with a try in the corner.

Holmes was successful with his conversion to secure the 19-15 victory for the Stevenson Park side.

Simon Best presented the Nutty Krust ‘Man of the Match Award’ to Dungannon no 8, Ashley Doherty.