Skins 48-26 Cooke

With both teams having qualified for the quarter-finals of the Ulster Junior Cup, Enniskillen and Cooke played off to top their group and earn a home tie.

The game was at Mullaghmeen, where the sides met at the end of August, in the opening round of the league, and where they will lock horns again in a fortnight, in the quarter-final of the All-Ireland Junior Cup, with Cooke having dispatched Munster side Kilfeacle in the last round, while Skins saw off Tuam. 

The conditions were very benign, allowing both sides to play attacking rugby, matched by the ferocity of their defences.

Enniskillen opened the scoring after five minutes, when tighthead prop, Mattie Graham, drove over under the posts, after several forays, Eddie Keys added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.  

Play ebbed and flowed, with both sides having their turn to attack but neither making a decisive play. Cooke narrowed the gap with a penalty from the 10m line, in front of the posts.

Skins negated that almost immediately, when Keys slotted a penalty shortly after the restart, to make it 10-3. 

Then came a key moment, when Stuart Elwood, the Cooke no.8, received a red card for a high tackle and head collision on Graham, who also had to leave the field for a period. It was Cooke who scored next though, taking another penalty opportunity. 10-6 to Skins. 

The home team took advantage of the extra space available and on 32 minutes, Tim Harte came off the right wing to join the attack line and release James Trotter down the left wing to score in the corner. That try was unconverted. 

The restart failed to go 10m and Skins were awarded a scrum in the centre of the field, with space either side.

They attacked ‘blind’ with Eddie Keys releasing Trotter on another strong run before he passed back inside to Keys when they had a 2v1 against the full-back. Keys touched down and then converted, to extend the lead to 22-6. 

From the kick-off, Skins exited well with a good box-kick from Mattie Dane, which Cooke fielded and returned deep into the Skins half.

Sam Balfour, starting at full-back for Skins, was positioned excellently, took the ball on the 22 and sped over the half-way line. Mattie Graham and the Rutledges took it on.

From the rucked ball, Mattie Dane fed Angus Keys, who pulled a pass back to Eddie Keys who sent a 40m kick-pass towards the right touchline, which Henry Keys  plucked from the air, stepped the winger in defence and sprinted in for a fine try. Eddie Keys converted to make it 29-6 at half-time. 

Skins kept the pressure on at the start of the second period when Sam Balfour scored a fantastic individual try, which started with a turnover on the left-hand side on the Skins’ 22.

The ball was moved quickly to Balfour, who beat three defenders and the cover defence to sprint in from 70m. Keys converted. 36-6. 

Jack Harte and Harry Ingram had come on, though Harte received what seemed to be a very harsh yellow card shortly after.

The penalty count started to go against Skins and Cooke took advantage of this to score two unconverted tries from close in,  after retaining the ball well through a number of phases, across the field and back, in each case. 

With the score at 36-16, Skins won the restart. Andy Dane carried well, Jack Rutledge took the ball from Mattie Dane at the ruck and off-loaded it to Angus Keys, who surged into the 22. When he was tackled just short of the line he managed to pop it up to Eddie Keys for his second, which he then converted. 

Cameron, ‘Chad’, Smith, caught the restart and made good ground. Henry Keys took it on before it was spun to Tim Harte on the left wing, who made a great break into the Cooke half.

From the ruck, Mattie Dane passed to Andy Dane, who showed a deft touch to send Eddie Keys through the gap for his hat-trick, which he converted to make it 48-16.  
Skins will be disappointed with the penalty count, which continued, despite their dominance.

It allowed Cooke into their 22 too easily and they would score twice more when Skins were awarded a second yellow card in the dying minutes. The score finished 48-26.

The sides will meet for the third time at Mullaghmeen in the All-Ireland Junior Cup quarter-final in a fortnight, for what is likely to be another cracking game. 

Attention turns back to the league now, with a trip to fifth-placed Ballymoney for the 1st XV.

For those supporters not travelling, the 2nds and 3rds are at home to Ballymena 3rds and Dungannon 3rds respectively with all games beginning at 2.30pm.