Seaman guidesLisneal through

Lisneal College...28

LISNEAL qualified for the Second Round of the 2012 Northern Ireland High Schools’ Trophy following an impressive 14-point first round victory over Banbridge High School in Rifle Park, recently.

After a gruelling two-hour trek to the County Down venue, the Lisneal students took time to settle and it was no surprise when the home XV grabbed an early lead despite Lisneal electing to use the slight wind advantage in the first half.

Lisneal found themselves 7-0 down after poor tackling allowed the Banbridge centre to round the visiting defence to score a converted try.

The setback seemed to spur Lisneal into action as they responded with a converted try themselves when prop forward Gary Cooper pounced on a defensive error at a Banbridge line-out. Better was to follow when influential out-half Daniel Seaman rounded a number of Banbridge backs to score a fine individual try which he converted himself for a 14-7 lead.

With the bit well and truly between their teeth, Lisneal capped a fine first half when centre Jordan Stewart scored an excellent team try involving forwards and backs which was again converted by Seaman to give Lisneal a 21-7 interval lead.

Playing with the wind in the second half, Banbridge upped their game. However resolute defending and commitment towards the cause held the opposition out as Lisneal refused to allow their opponents an avenue back into the game.

Intelligent tactical kicking by Seaman also helped relieve pressure and took the visitors out of the danger areas as Banbridge heads began to drop with time running out.

The game was made safe when flanker Gordon Killen capped off his usual all action performance with a typically robust try, again converted by Seaman.

Although Banbridge did gain a converted try themselves in the dying minutes, this was nothing more than a consolation as Lisneal held on for a fine 28-14 victory to reach the Second Round.

Lisneal appear to have assembled a highly competitive Under 16 team and will hope to proceed some distance in the High Schools’ Trophy this season with a repeat the feat of three seasons ago when the school reached the showpiece Ravenhill final no out of the question.

The backrow of Gordon Killen, Karl Donaghey and hugely influential Richard Olphert are a match for anyone while out-half and Ulster development squad member Daniel Seaman has the ability to control a game through his excellent tactical kicking.

The Londonderry School now await the second round draw and will be hoping for home advantage.