After almost two hours of rugby, due to prolonged injury time, referee Mark Hynes called full time on a strange but exciting game which went right down to the wire when Skerries had a chance to steal a win right at the end. A game in which the superior Dungannon team suffered an alarming injury count on the 4G pitch at Holmpatrick. Having lost earlier in the season to Skerries by one point this was always going to be a close match.
Skerries kicked off and within 5 minutes were 3-0 up when Dungannon was penalised for not rolling away with Ronan Mulcahy getting his first points.
Dungannon lost the first of three first half line outs when in favourable positions through a combination of both height disadvantage and line out infringement. Within the first quarter, Sean O'Hagan was first off injured to be replaced by Adam Edgar only to be followed just after this by Andrew McGregor with Charlie Conroy his replacement.
At the end of the first quarter the visitors had their first clear chance when Mervyn Brown failed to hold onto a Peter Nelson perfectly weighted grubber kick with the line at his mercy. To be fair a lot of players during the game were caught out by the capricious bounce on this surface.
More players were to leave play before the half was out with replacement Edgar next to leave with a calf strain replaced by Ryan Abernethy only to be followed by James McMahon who never recovered after an earlier searing 40 metre break. Callum Johns made a welcome return as his replacement.
As the injury count mounted, it was not unusual to see two Dungannon players down at the same time, keeping the physio staff busy. During the game there were a number of other minor injuries sustained but the players remained on the field of play.
Skerries had an easy 3 points when the visitors were penalised for a high tackle and Mulcahy uncharacteristically missed but Ben McCaughey didn't make the same mistake from 40 metres out when Skerries were pinged for holding on, levelling the scores at 3-3.
A Ben McCaughey chip was gathered by Charlie Conroy who made amends for an earlier miss and he had a fine run gaining territory. With good forward support Stephen Todd crashed over with Ben converting giving the visitors a deserved half time lead of 10-3.
On the restart a fortuitous Toby Gribben cross kick landed on the touchline deep in the opposition half thanks to a Skerries touch which gave the visitors the line out. The well executed driving maul from this saw Sam Montgomery get the touch down and Ben duly added the extras at 3-17.
Next to go through injury was Adam Milligan but he soon returned after a few head stitches only to play later in the game in the centre.
Mulcahy pulled three points back for Skerries when a visiting player was found to be off his feet.
It looked as if Dungannon were about to lose another player when Ben McCaughey was dangerously tackled in the air and the offence would appear to have attracted a more severe sanction other than the penalty. Peter’s kick to 15 metres out came to nothing as a Dungannon maul infringement relieved the pressure for the hosts.
Following the Dungannon concession of a scrum penalty and the ensuing lineout, good work by the heavier Skerries forwards saw hooker Sam Deering get their opening try converted by Mulcahy at the end of the third quarter narrowing the score to 13-17.
A Ben McCaughey take on the full at pace from a loose Skerries kick, set up good field position for Dungannon. A couple of penalties later and Dungannon were on the home line and at the second attempt Ryan Abernethy was at the bottom of the maul to get the third try with Ben once again converting putting Dungannon ahead 13-24.
With ten minutes to go and the sky darkening and the wind strengthening in favour of the hosts, the next player to leave was Kyle Gormley with a back injury. He was soon followed by Charlie Conroy - not an injury this time but a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, which probably saved a try.
From a Dungannon knock on and a solid scrum Skerries with the extra man manufactured a try in the corner. While both assistant referees awarded the conversion, they were correctly overruled by the referee Hynes leaving the score at 18-24 as full time approached.
The game was following a familiar pattern for Dungannon as not for the first time this season a lead was whittled away by the opponents in the latter stages. While a further Skerries attack broke down they weren’t finished as they had a final flourish with Brian Walsh touching down in the corner. Fortunately, Mulcahy was carrying an injury and his replacement kicker Paul O’Loghlen was wide with his attempt much to the relief of the Dungannon team and support.
While Skerries clawed their way back and could have won it at the end, Dungannon was the more purposeful side, being superior in several areas, particularly at half back with Toby and Peter skilfully controlling things. While they were dominant for most of the game it is worrying how that dominance can be frequently lost to opponents, in the final quarter. They deserved their win and have now beaten all teams in the league, but it could very easily have gone the other way. This was a resilient performance given the high casualty rate and also with some players playing out of position.
Let’s hope that the injuries will clear up before the final AIL home match with Sligo on Saturday.

Dungannon:- J. Gamble, S. Montgomery, S. O’Hagan, P. Nicholl, C. Steenson, S. Todd, A. Milligan, J. McMahon, T. Gribben, M. Brown, K. Gormley, J. Girvan, B. McCaughey, A. McGregor, R. Abernethy, A. Edgar, C. Johns, B. Connelly, C. Conroy