City of Derry confidence 'flourishing' after emphatic win over Grosvenor

City of Derry 38

Grosvenor 0

Killene Thorton scored a hat trick as City of Derry made it two wins and 10 points in just a matter of days with an emphatic victory over Grosvenor at Foyle College last night.

Having left it late to beat Enniskillen on Saturday past at Judges Road, the green and blacks expected nothing less than the full haul of points against an opponent struggling at the foot of Kukri League Division One, and that’s exactly what happened.

The six-try victory came thanks to Thorton’s treble as well as scores from David Lapsley, Cathal Cregan and Stephen Corr to leave coach Richard McCarter more than satisfied with his team’s efforts over a physically demanding four days.

“We got out of it what we needed to,” he reflected. “It was important to back up Saturday. We had targeted the 10 points from these two home games. We probably started off a wee bit slowly to be fair, but we came into it more at the end of the first half and then the second half it was comfortable, which was great from our point of view.

“They had the better of the first half I would say. They had a very good kicking, but we came into the game more and we started to put them through phases and to make them make tackles, and then to score before half time was really crucial for us.”

This was Derry’s ninth win of a largely difficult season, with just one more game, away at CIYMS, still to come. Form in recent times has improved significantly from the struggles at the start of the season, which McCarter describes as a ‘hangover’ after dropping down from the All-Ireland League.  

“It’s a learning curve this year for us,” he said. “We’ll go into next season far better equipped and we’ll not have that slow start and we’ll show what we’re capable of. We now have a bit of a feel for the league and we can really attack it next year.

“We were never going to just drop down and start hammering teams week in and week out. Our confidence has taken a battering over the last few seasons, not just last year and the relegation really affected everybody. It was always going to take a bit of time and there was always going to be a bit of a hangover, but once we got into our rhythm, we’ve been pretty good the last few months of the season.”

Unusual surroundings

The game took place in the unusual, yet impressive surroundings of Foyle College, which was more that equipped to host such an occasion due to the lack of lighting at Judges Road.

Derry wanted a fast start and they got it after just 10 minutes, with Lapsley adding to his two tries from last weekend by opening the scoring from an Alex McDonnell pass.

The expected dominance did not materialise from there however, and to Grosvenor’s credit, they asked a number of questions of Derry as they responded strongly. The home defence held up, but attempts to build pressure themselves fell short due to poor handling on a number of occasions.

Fortunately for Derry, the half ended well, this despite a yellow card for Colm Cregan, when Thorton scored the first of his treble; the score coming after the ball was worked quickly from the right wing to the left where Davy Graham set up his team mate to touch down bravely right in the corner.

Half Time 12-0

The second half was completely one-sided as Derry came out flying, scoring a third try just over a minute after the restart. From a scrum, Derry broke with pace with Jamie Millar setting up Thorton, who showed blistering pace to ensure he made it an easy conversion for McDonnell to make it 19-0.

Less than ten minutes later, Derry had their fourth try and their expected bonus point victory secure. This try was all about persistence, as the hosts applied the pressure from a line-out deep in the Grosvenor ’22, and there was no stopping Cathal Cregan as he forced the ball over the line. McDonnell’s impressive conversion, which went in off the post, made it 26-0.

It was now just a matter of how many Derry would end up with, and while Grosvenor bodies were tiring, it was very much in contrast to their opponents, who looked filled with confidence and hungry for more.

The fifth try was inevitable and it was a relatively simple one for Thorton who completed his hat trick; Jamie Millar showed a burst of speed to take him into the clear, and although he wanted to go himself, the way was quickly shut, so he passed the responsibility to his team mate, who will never score an easier try.

The final say went to the impressive Stephen Corr five minutes before the end, but a simple conversion was surprisingly fluffed by McDonnell, a miss his coach took full responsibility for.

“I didn’t want him to lose another ball in the tennis courts, so I told him to just dink it over and he missed it,” McCarter laughed. “It’s a pity because it would have helped his points tally and 40 sounds a bit rounder than 38. But overall, we showed some great attack there and hopefully the boys take confidence. There was a good range of scorers. The backs and forwards all played really well; Big Corrsy was like an 18-year-old running around there in the second half, so it was great to see that confidence really flourish.”

Teams

CITY OF DERRY: Killene Thorton, Ian Bratton, Davy Graham, David Lapsley, Colm Cregan, Alex McDonnell, Jamie Millar, Fearghus Canning, Cathal Cregan. Adam Marley, Gerard Doherty, Aaron Deery, Tiernan Thorton, Dara Gill, Stephen Corr, Jack Sayers, Jake McDevitt.

GROSVENOR: M. Stevenson, M. Smyth, J. Sims, S. Smyth, M. Baird, N. Adanis, J. McMullan, J. McMaster, J. Allen, T. Emerson, B. Johnston, T. McMullan, J. Kennedy, L.Young, J. Breen, H. Kaymak.