Late City of Derry penalty denies Limavady at Judges Road
Ulster Rugby, Championship Two
City of Derry 23, Limavady RFC 23
City of Derry ensured Limavady's Championship Two title champagne remains on ice after Alex McDonnell's late penalty sealed a deserved share of the spoils for Neil Beddow's team against the champions elect at Judges Road on Saturday.
The 'Green & Black' had to overcome the loss of both Simon Logue and Owen Hoyles during an end to end game played out before a sizeable travelling support, all expecting to see the Roesiders lift the title and rubber stamp promotion.
That scenario will likely now take place in two weeks' time when Limavady travel to Grosvenor for their final league fixture of the season, with Derry coach Beddow delighted to see his team finish their home schedule with an excellent display.
"We were solid. I was really pleased the boys delivered a performance for themselves," explained the Derry Head Coach.
"We spoke all week about how it was going to be a step up from what we’d been playing for the majority of the season and I was just pleased that the players did themselves justice
"That's our last home match of the year so, potentially, that could be the last time some of the players take to the field at Judges Road in a First XV jersey, with some talking of stopping and others maybe moving on. Those are discussions still to be had but last time out on that pitch for some and, listen, they didn't disappoint."
Derry set their stall out early with a try from the first play of the match. David Graham's break down the left opened Limavady and provided the space for winger Own Hoyles to chip ahead and win the race to touch down just ahead of scrum-half Andy Millar.
With McDonnell converting, Derry were off to a flyer but Limavady responded in the style of would-be champions, an unconverted try, a penalty and a second try - this time converted – handing the Roesiders a 10-15 half-time lead.
The teams swapped penalties upon the restart before a third try for the visitors took their lead out to 13-23 and looked to have secured the game - and the title - for Limavady. However Derry weren't finished and when the excellent Davy Graham went over in the corner it set up a grandstand finish, McDonnell's late kick then ensuring Limavady must wait a least another of couple of weeks for title glory, Beddow believes they’ve fully deserved.
"Listen. I would love to have gone for the victory but I'd seen some of the other scores at half-time and with Grosvenor being awarded a retrospective win over Monaghan due to an unregistered player, that brought us back into a potentially tricky equation," explained the Derry coach.
"As it turns out, the results at full-time were fine for us but we didn't know that leading into the decision to kick the last minute penalty, so we couldn't take a chance and ultimately, kicking the penalty stopped Limavady winning the league on our turf.
"Genuinely, I thought if there was one team going to win the match it was going to be us; and that's against the team that's going to win the league, the best team in the division. Nothing is going to stop Limavady in a couple of weeks, they will win the league, it's as simple as that.
"So, listen, we are pleased we came out with a positive result, the boys are happy we put in a performance."
Derry have a re-arranged fixture in Monaghan this Saturday before finishing their season with a trip to second placed Ards, after which preparations for next season will really swing into gear.
"We are starting to look at and speak to players about next season while some of our own players have been approached by external clubs so it's a matter of us seeing what we have and where we can build.
"That's the plan over the next few weeks. Ultimately you want to get one season out of the way before you really start looking ahead so from March 21st, once the Ards game is over, we can start looking forward to what things will look like from June or July onwards," added Beddow.