McCambley Cup 17th December 2016

Scorers: Warwick(2*Try), McSwiggan(1*Try), Devlin(1*Try, 1*Pen), McGuckin(3*Conv, 1*Pen)

The Second Round McCambley Cup tie between Rainey III and Portadown IV at Hatrick Park gad just about everything.  In the end, extra time could not even separate the sides and a 32 - 32 draw was probably a fair enough result.  Rainey would argue that they had the chances to get the verdict, but Portadown would have advanced had they had a place-kicker of even limited ability.

While Rainey took some time to find their feet, despite a pre-match warm-up, Portadown ran in two tries in the first five minutes.  Tries followed at regular intervals as play switched from end to end.  Portadown scored five unconverted tries, but Rainey, with only four touchdowns, led 26 - 25 at the interval, thanks to their place-kickers.

Five yellow cards, three to Rainey men, were produced in a second period which threatened to get out of hand at times.  Both defences improved beyond recognition with Rainey centre Warwick giving a masterclass of tackling which made him Man of the Match by a street.  He scored two tries, with hooker McSwiggan and out-half Devlin also crossing.  The other points came from kickers McGuckin and Devlin who brought his side level with a very late penalty.

With the light fading rapidly, it was agreed that the game should finish under lights on an adjacent pitch.  But with the participants running out of steam, there was no further scoring and a replay at Chambers Park will be necessary.