Sunday’s Well dig out win to dent Highfield hopes

Sunday’s Well 13 Highfield 6: This Ulster Bank League Division 2B local derby at Musgrave Park last night provided plenty of excitement for a crowd of more than 2,000 as Sunday’s Well all but ended Highfield’s ambitions of being crowned champions.

The ‘Well showed spirit and guts on top of opportunism to earn a victory that was surprising based on where the game was played, but rugby is often about taking chances and the winners certainly did that.

The outcome means both these Cork clubs, Sunday’s Well with the win and Highfield with a losing bonus point, joined leaders City of Derry on 56 points but the Ulster club remain top on points differential and have a game in hand today.

Derry will be favourites to take the title with Highfield likely to make do with a role in the play-offs for a second promotion spot.

Sunday’s Well started well and moved into opposition territory from the kick-off, taking the lead with a penalty goal from out-half Shane O’Riordan.

Highfield dusted themselves down quickly and spent lots of time in attacking positions only to be met by a fierce defence, and they will regret missing one close-in penalty midway through the half from Paddy O’Toole.

Having won the toss and decided to play against the wind, Highfield kept Sunday’s Well from taking any advantage of that strong breeze.

O’Toole was given a second chance to open his side’s scoring after 33 minutes but he pushed his effort to the wrong side of the posts. They could have paid heavily for those lapses when Sunday’s Well broke away, only to knock on when a try was a real possibility.

But Sunday’s Well did grab the next score and again the points came from the boot of O’Riordan who guided the difficult 40-metre kick through the sticks to give his side a 6-0 lead at the break.

Eight minutes into the second half, O’Toole finally found the range with a penalty but Highfield found themselves in deep trouble five minutes later when a defensive mix-up was seized upon by Greg Higgins and he sent Mark Chandler in for the try that Shane O’Riordan converted for a 13-3 lead.

When Cathal Quinn was yellow carded, O’Toole put Highfield back within striking range with his second penalty but it was not enough to make a difference.

Sunday’s Well:

G Higgins, C Quinn, E Geary, M Chandler, J Neilson, S O’Riordan, P Arigho, F Moynihan, J Moynihan, M Moynihan, O Glynn, J Mulcahy, K Stokes (captain), S Glynn, C Jouve.

Replacements used:

J Barry, N O’Donoghue, S Kelly, E Hurley, R O’Mahony.

Highfield:

S Quaid, P Stack, B O’Hea, B Murphy, J McLoughlin, P O’Toole, C Bannon, J O’Callaghan (captain), D O’Hea, C Forde, D Kelly, F O’Sullivan, D O’Connell, M Cronin, D Lane.

Replacements used:

D O’Callaghan, I McCarthy, M Murphy, C Gallagher, K Foyle.

Referee. R O’Sullivan (IRFU)