Dungannon lads set up a ‘Royal’ rumble after ‘Down’ing High School in last four

ROYAL School Dungannon’s rugby first XV have a derby final to look forward to after they ousted Down High School from the Danske Bank Schools Subsidiary Shield semi-finals on Saturday morning.

Gareth McClintock’s charges came from behind twice against the side who defeated Omagh Academy in the previous round to set up a showpiece with near neighbours Royal School Armagh, who beat Coleraine Grammar 20-18 in the other semi-final.

For more than half of the RSD starting XV on Saturday, as upper sixth years, this decider will be their final match in schools rugby and McClintock hopes they can go out on a high.

“We’re looking forward to it,” beamed McClintock. “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be a good final against two local teams.

“We have eight of the starting XV who will be playing their last game for the school in the final so there will be no shortage of hunger from them for victory.

“And I said that to them before today’s (Saturday’s) game that we’re not ready to finish our schools careers here, that this can’t be our last match of the season. I think that was one of the things that kept them going.

“And hopefully they can finish it off on March 10 with some silverware.”

As was the case in their quarter-final victory over Enniskillen Royal Grammar School when Dungannon led 40-12 with just 15 minutes to go before sealing a 40-33 victory, Saturday’s clash with Down High again went down to the wire.

And much to McClintock’s joy his side showed they had learned from the latter stages in Fermanagh as tries from Alfie Lewis, Cameron Shaw, Reuben Gibson and Alex Kennedy, as well as a Josh Clarke penalty, sealed the victory in the end.

“It was another nail-biter,” he exclaimed. “The boys played very well and you could see the fight and the heart and the belief in them in the last five minutes of the game to keep possession and then get the ball out of play.

“I think we learned lessons from the quarter-final. They were attacking our line in the last five minutes and we got the scrum but we knew at that time we had to keep possession and I think those are the lessons they learned from the last game. It was about game management and how to see a game out and we moved the ball up to the halfway line with a couple of strong carries before kicking it out. It was a good finish to the game.”

Dungannon got off to a somewhat edgy start to proceedings against a Down High side who took an early lead through a converted try but back came the home side with Alfie Lewis dotting down an unconverted effort before Cameron Shaw crossed the whitewash for a score converted by Jacob Clarke.

The visitors bounced back with an unconverted try of their own to level the scores at the break, after which Dungannon found their groove.

Down knocked over an early penalty to regain the lead, but then Reuben Gibson and Alex Kennedy each scored a try either side of a penalty by Clarke, who also converted Gibson’s effort.

That left the hosts 27-15 to the good and although Down registered another converted score, they were unable to breach the Dungannon defence, which remained resolute under some late pressure as the Tyrone side booked their place in the final.