ENNISKILLEN ...................................... 22

DUNGANNON ...................................... 20

Enniskillen held on for a hard-fought victory and a place in the Powerade sponsored Town's Cup semi-finals. Having got themselves into a winning position early in the second half, 'Skins were forced to defend manfully for the last 15 minutes of the game as the visitors threw everything into attack. The cause was not helped when substitute Paul Holder was shown a yellow card, forcing 'Skins to play out the final ten minutes of the match with only 14 men.

It was Dungannon who got on the scoreboard early. The referee set his stall out for the day when he marched Enniskillen back an extra ten metres from the very first penalty of the game, allowing Dungannon to get that much closer to the line with the kick to touch. The Enniskillen forwards did an excellent job of stopping the powerful driving maul, and Steve Welsh made a great stop when they tried to peel off the side. The recycling, however, was good and an inside step by Dungannon's first centre wrong footed the Enniskillen defence as he crossed for an unconverted try, with just four minutes gone.

The lead was short-lived, however, with Chris Maguire scoring four minutes later. Mattie Maguire spotted a gap after a miss pass in midfield and made a magnificent break, beating two or three men with a typical jinking run. He, in turn, fed namesake Chris who beat the last defender with ease to cross for the try. , Richie Finlay added the conversion to put 'Skins in front, 7–5.

Enniskillen were in control of the game at this point and kept banging on the Dungannon door. The defence was sound with some big tackles coming in from the back row trio of Willie Gibson, David Buchanan and Gary Hall, keeping Dungannon's big pack from getting too much momentum.

The next score went the way of the home side after 20 minutes. Enniskillen went through the phases retaining possession as they worked their way up field. Under the shadow of the posts, the ball first went right and then with nothing on, Finlay reversed the play making a half break to the left of the ruck. Gibson took the feed from his outhalf and took his man on before passing to Hall, who stooped low to take the ball and cross for another try.

Shortly after, Enniskillen lost Tim Law to injury, forcing a re-shuffle in the team with Darren Cochrane stepping up to into the forwards. Law had previously put in two or three thunderous hits as the Enniskillen front five went toe-to-toe with the bigger Dungannon pack.

Dungannon missed a wonderful opportunity to score on half-an-hour when Chris Maguire made a try saving tackle on his own line, after the visitors had a three on one break down their left wing. However, their next score was only two minutes away. Another lineout option from a penalty saw Dungannon use their only real threat, the driving maul, to get close to the line where they crashed over for another unconverted try.

Enniskillen ended the half stronger and also with a man advantage following an indiscretion by one of the visiting second row, some four minutes into stoppage time. Again, Mattie Maguire was at the heart of another midfield break, and Finlay pushed the ball deep into the Dungannon half.

From a scrum, a Dungannon clearing kick was fielded by Keith Armstrong, who linked with Chris Maguire and Mattie Maguire in a sweeping move that ended with Mattie beating his man with Jimmy Moore on the outside and crossing for the third try, converted by Finlay to leave the half-time score at 19–10.

The second half was not as eventful as the first, at least not until the final 15 minutes, with Finlay starting to kick territorially to keep Dungannon in their own half and reduce the effect of their bigger forwards and driving mauls, forcing the visitors to start chasing the game needing two scores at least. Indeed, it was the home side who increased their lead 12 minutes in. Dungannon were firstly penalised for some indiscipline and then marched an extra ten metres downfield for some back chat and Finlay slotted over the penalty.

Shortly after, Mattie Maguire again made another great break but this time he was too quick for his support and the chance went begging. Dungannon threw caution to the wind and started to wrestle the initiative away from 'Skins, who were forced to rely increasingly on their defensive prowess.

Dungannon managed to claw their way back into the game with an unconverted try with 15 minutes left, following a period of sustained pressure. The missed conversion brought them to within a converted try of tying the game. Indeed, but for their kicking, or lack of, the result may have been much different.

The yellow card for Holder, who had replaced the injured Gavin Warrington, meant that the game ended with uncontested scrums, and set up a nervous final ten minutes for the Enniskillen faithful. The defence repeatedly seemed to have seen off Dungannon, but every tackle made seemed to result in a penalty for the visitors, allowing them to maintain the pressure.

Finally, all the pressure paid off with a try in the dying seconds. To the relief of all Enniskillen players and supporters, the final conversion was also missed, leaving the visitors two points shy of getting a last gasp result.