Larne Men Take Early Advantage Over Limavady

From the kick off it was evident that the home side were in for a tough day. Pressure from the visitors back row pinned the Larne men deep in their own half with kicking not much of an option into the wind.

A solid Limavady scrum also meant the home team couldn't secure any clean set piece ball. As the men in black continued to pressure the Larne line, only great scramble defence kept them out with notable tackles from Montgomery and McIlheron.

The pressure finally told with an infringement around the ruck giving the visitors an early 3 point lead.

As the first half progressed Larne seen little of the ball. Limavady had another scrum in the Larne half and more pressure was starting to mount. Garrett managed to disrupt the ball at the back of the scrum to chase down field and recover. Great support from Jordan Burns saw him take the off load and hold off 3 would be defenders to score in the corner.

The home side somehow went into the break with a 5-3 lead.

The start of the second half was a little more promising for the Larne men, it was their turn to threaten the Limavady line. Burns was unlucky not to bag a second as the ball just rolled over the dead ball line before he could reach it.

The dominance of the visitors set piece began to come in to play again giving them yet more field position. Solid defence again, particularly from the pack as they defended maul after maul, kept Limavady out and their frustration began to grow.

Larne began to thrive off this frustration and started to find their running game come into play for the first time in the match.

Garrett picked up loose ball and made a break up the blind to throw an inside pass to Mills who managed to power over from 10 metres out taking 3 Limavady defenders with him on the way to score in the corner. Unfortunately the conversion was missed but Andrews added a penalty moments later to give the home team a 13-3 advantage.

The game came to a bit of a stale mate for the final 10 minutes with both sides defending well in the middle of the park. With both going down to 14 men for yellow cards and moments later Larne going down to 13 with injury to Johnston, space opened up. Limavady took advantage of the extra man and scored a try in the last play of the game to leave the score at 13-8.

A great start to league campaign for Larne and although it is only the first game of the season it is a big advantage. The team showed true grit to dog out the win against a strong Limavady side. A tough away game to Donegal next week is a must win.