Simon Logue stars in attack and defence as City of Derry defeat Portadown

City of Derry  24

Portadown  22

CITY of Derry bounced back from that disappointing defeat away to Carrick last week with a nervy but, eventually, deserved win over Portadown in squeaky bum time on Saturday afternoon.

Thank God for Simon Logue. The legendary Derry talisman ran in two first half tries to hand his side a comfortable 17-5 half-time lead. But, just as importantly, the utility back produced an heroic tackle to deny Portadown what appeared a last gasp winning try with five minutes of injury time played the game clock all but up.

Victory was no more than the home side deserved. Having watched a feisty Portadown systematically reel in their lead and threatening a late, late sucker punch, the Judges Road men showed serious character to defy that robust Portadown blitz and stretch their necks over the winning line. As Head Coach Richard McCarter opined after the victory – “that game had everything!”

The visitors, playing with breathless intensity from start to finish, arrived at Judges Road gunning for a win. Indeed, Derry found themselves under siege in their own half for most of the opening quarter with only teeth rattling tackles from Ross McLaughlin, Tiernan Thornton and Stephen Corr the highlights of a very stubborn Derry rearguard action. Derry’s powerful and dominate scrum also played its part. A scrum penalty produced the first score of the day when Alex McDonnell split the posts from distance to hand his side a lead they would never relinquish.

Despite the recent deluge of rain, and great credit to the groundsman, Derry’s late October pitch proved a perfect carpet for both sets of jet-heeled backs. The home side took the initial advantage when Jamie Miller’s thirty metre run should have earned Derry the first try of the day only for the home side to butcher the opportunity with the try line on the near horizon.

But after 15 minutes Simon Logue made no such mistake when he dropped the shoulder and tapped the gas to run over for the opening touch down.

Having enjoyed the lion’s share of possession Portadown struck back when they finally first worked their scoreboard in the 26th minute.

However, leading 10-5 Derry would have the last say of the first half when Simon Logue accounted for try number two courtesy of centre partner David Lapsley’s penetrating break.

Half-time: City of Derry 17-5 Portadown

The visitors attacked the second half with the same vim and vigour as they did the first, with Derry relying on Stephen Corr’s umpteen tackles and their rock solid scrum to keep Portadown at bay.

David Lapsley’s try in the 67th minute, care of an inch perfect Alex McDonnell kick followed by the same player’s outrageously good conversion stretched Derry’s lead to 24-8.

With ten minutes to go Richard McCarter’s men looked home and hosed. But still Portadown battled on. Back to back tries in the 74th and 76th minute left the visitors just two behind at 24-22 down and sniffing a late penalty or try to complete an unlikely comeback.

However, even with influential scrum-half Millar in the sin bin, Derry held firm showing both guts and discipline to repel everything Portadown threw at them at the death.

“After last week’s disappointment it was so important that we won today, no matter how we won,” explained Richard McCarter shortly after that dramatic end.

 “We showed serious character and determination to hold on at the end there,” he explained. “The tide had definitely turned in Portadown’s favour and it looked like we were hanging on for grim death. But thankfully Simon Logue put in an outrageous tackle in the corner at the very end and won us the game.”

City of Derry led 17-5 at the break, only to hang on for their lives as the contest simmered to a boil at the tail end of the second half.

 “We were pleased at half-time, even though we hadn’t hit top gear,” acknowledged McCarter. “We were comfortable and defensively we were very organised. We were patient. We picked our moments and were clinical in attack.

“I felt that would give us the confidence to kick on in the second half,” he continued, “but we didn’t really do that. I thought our second half performance was pretty average. That said, we scored at a good time. But we were hanging on there at the end.”

The Derry Head Coach was happy to consign last week’s big disappointment in losing to bottom of the table Carrick to the ‘win or learn’ filing cabinet.

“We were gutted after last week. The standards and levels that we set were nowhere near good enough so we knew how vitally important it was to win here today.”

City of Derry return to Judge’s Road next week this Saturday where they play host to Cooke RFC.

City of Derry: Fearghus Canning, Cathal Creggan, Sam Duffy, Gerard Doherty, Gary McKinley, Tiernan Thornton, Jake McDevitt, Stephen Corr, Jamie Millar, Alex McDonnell, Jack Beattie, Simon Logue, David Lapsley, Colm Creggan, Ross McLaughlin

Subs: Adam Marley, Dara Gill, Tiarnan Dillon