Rugby - Gordon West Cup Final

O’Kane looking to bow out with the ‘double’ By Steven Doherty IF Limavady needed any precedent of how to guard against complacency, they need only to look back at last year’s Gordon West Final. The 2015 league champions Larne arrived at Ravenhill as the hottest of favourites to do the double and faced a Limavady side that they had already beat twice that season. It didn’t work out that way. Limavady head coach Paul O’Kane, who bows out at the end of the season, takes up the story. “Larne won the league last year,” explained O’Kane. “And I never seen a team as demoralised coming off a rugby field. The defeat destroyed what they had achieved before. They arrived at the game in the big Ulster Rugby coach that they had hired for the day. They had a huge party planned for afterwards and we majorly poo pooed on the party. I knew we were capable of winning last year because everything clicked in the final and we destroyed them.” What a difference a year makes. The Roesiders arrive will pull up at headquarters as strong favourites to retain the trophy they so emphatically won as rank underdogs last season, when they obliterated Larne 46-8. Limavady have broken all sorts of league records en route to lifting the league title in rapid-fire time. They have been simply irresistible this season – played 20, won 20. And while ‘Kanesy’ is all too aware the shoe is now on the other foot with his side odds on to win, he does not expect his players to fall into a similar trap that last year’s beaten finalists did. “You can’t be complacent,” he told the County Derry Post. “Out of the squad from last year there are now ten different faces. We have the likes of Johnny Blair who was playing for our third team last year. But the key to our team is our captain Daniel Irvine, the No. 8. He’s a level up from the rest of the boys. Commitment-wise the man just lives in the gym. He’s probably the youngest captain Limavady have ever had. He’s a great leader. He’ll play with his head hanging off. He’s the man we’ll look to during a difficult patch in the game. “If we play and play to our potential I expect us to win and win comfortably. The wide open spaces of Ravenhill will definitely suit our back line. We have lads in that back line can play senior rugby if they want to. They have been created in a very clannish manner. They are very Limavady orientated so I don’t see any of them going too soon. “Winger Robert Lamberton is one of the best backs in Qualifying rugby – phenomenally talented and committed. Same with Peter Wilson.” O’Kane and his coaching staff - Andy King (forwards) and Everett Sherrard and Greg Jordan (backs) - is hoping to have a full deck to pick from. Injury is very much inherent in the game and while several players are carrying knocks from previous battles, O’Kane expects everybody to be fit for the final or as he says “to lie to me and tell me they are OK to play.” That’s the kind of draw a run out at Ravenhill has, and it also shows the commitment that this very special group of players has. The great thing about young players is that they have no fear. And youth runs through this Limavady team like the River Rose runs through the town itself. “Our backline is littered with youngsters,” continues the coach. “Our scrum half and out half are 21, our first centre is 19, second centre is 20. Winger is 23, full-back is 24.” While there is no shortage of youth, Limavady’s campaign and their success to date has been built on the ‘3 Ps’ – power, passion and pace. It has been upon that solid foundation that Limavady has swept all before it in the Gordon West this season. The Roesiders started the defence of the Gordon West Cup at the quarter final stage as the competition went from a round robin group stage to straight knock out. The open draw cruelly paired Limavady with second placed UUC in the tie of the round. In a fierce battle played out in horrendous weather conditions Limavady prevailed on a 10-5 scoreline. Greg Jordan was the try scorer on a day when the defence stood up to keep the Coleraine students at bay in a frantic last 10 minutes when the students were held up time and time again on the Limavady line. The semi-final was another North West derby affair as Letterkenny travelled to the John Hunter Memorial Grounds. After presenting Limavady with one of their toughest league matches in their previous encounter in December, the Donegal men were hit with a blitz of running rugby as the Qualifying League 3 champions put in a dazzling display to run in ten tries in a 60-7 victory. An awesome display of power by any measurement you wish to take. Players To Watch Outside of captain and talisman Daniel Irvine Limavady will look to new recruits Peter Browne and Sam Mackey this Saturday. Both have excelled in the back row this season. Also look out for the barnstorming runs from the two ‘oul hands’ of the pack from second row John Purcell and prop Clive Scott. But it’s been the backline that have received most of the plaudits this season, and rightly so. From half back Jamie Miller and Luke Faulkner have pulled the strings in a side that boasts an almost new backline which appeared in last year’s final. Jamie ‘Mo’ Miller has added a steely defence to the young Roesiders backline and has also chipped in with some very important tries during the year while the finishing prowess of Stewart Roddy, Tom McClelland and top scorer Robert Lamberton would see them grace any team of the Qualifying Leagues. Team News Tight head prop John McCollum remains a major doubt to make the cup final squad as he follows the return to play protocols after succumbing to more than one concussion in recent months, while Michael Rice, Daniel Irvine, Clive Scott and Sam Mackey are all expected to shake off knocks and take their place on Saturday. Sheagh McLaughlin, Chris Tinney and Ben Brown wait in the wings if needed. In the backs the major doubt is the experienced Greg Jordan. ‘Kiwi’ is nursing a back injury at the minute and Head Coach Paul O’Kane rates his chances at 50/50. It has been a year to remember for Limavady Rugby Club. Coach Paul O’Kane has given everything he’s got over the last four years to get this golden generation of players to Ravenhill for the second year on the trot. O’Kane bows out at the end of the season and he owes nobody nothing at this stage. Can the boys do the business for their outgoing leader? You get the impression they will.