Having moved out of the league’s danger zone and secured their place in next season’s Championship 1 with a recent run of four defeats (!), the pressure was off for this fixture and Bangor could set about avenging their earlier defeat at Pollock Park. Lurgan, sitting one place above Bangor and with an extra game in hand, still had their sights on a top 4 finish and, having suffered a heavy defeat by Enniskillen the week before, were determined to get back in contention.

In glorious sunshine, Lurgan kicked off towards the cricket end, with the slight breeze at their backs. Bangor’s current form of getting into their stride quickly continued, and within the first few minutes forced Lurgan to concede a penalty just inside their own half. Unfortunately, the headwind hindered the kick to touch and the Lurgan defenders managed to tap the ball back into play. Although the danger for Lurgan wasn’t over with the ball bobbling close to their goal line, they safely regained possession and went for a big clearance kick downfield. However, Patrick Dobie had been determined to keep up the pressure and a determined leap saw him charge the ball down. In the ensuing confusion, it was Dobie who kept his eye on the ball and quickly leapt on it to score an opportunist try. The wind hindered Rhys Larmour’s conversion attempt, but Bangor were now first on the scoreboard with an early 5-0 lead.

Lurgan were undoubtedly disappointed at this early setback, and set about getting back in terms. As the game entered its second quarter, the mounting sense of impatience and frustration came to a head with both sides having a player yellow carded for ungentlemanly conduct. Matters got worse for Bangor when, a few minutes later, they received another yellow card for a high tackle. With Bangor now lacking two of their forwards, Lurgan looked to their pack to barge their way over after several drives for the line. Eventually this paid off with an unconverted try which levelled the score at 5-5.

Once back to full strength, Bangor started to dominate the attacking play and only some unfortunate handling errors prevented them from adding to their tally. As the game entered the final few minutes of the opening half, Bangor pressed forward again and good work by James Leary and Dylan Jones provided Andy Smyth with a great chance to make the final few metres. However, despite his strength, Smyth wasn’t able to shake off the Lurgan defence and saw the ball slip from his grip within touching distance of the goal line. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Lurgan grabbed the loose ball and set about turning defence into attack. Having evaded the first few tacklers, they broke through Bangor’s line and then passed the ball to their speedy full-back who sprinted down the left wing before outrunning Bangor’s back-pedalling defence and scoring under the posts. With the simple conversion, Lurgan had taken the lead by 5-12 which they held until half time.

Bangor may have felt disappointed not have been further ahead by this stage but, now playing with the wind at their backs, there was renewed anticipation that the favourable conditions would now work in their favour. This was the case after 13 minutes of the second half when a great kick by Gareth Millar found touch deep inside the Lurgan twenty-two. The Bangor forwards won the lineout and started to drive for the line. Although stopped a few metres short, they recycled the ball to their backs. Although lacking the size and weight of the forwards, centre Ally McIvor took the ball at pace and forced his way through the mass of players ahead of him to score under the Lurgan posts. Larmour added the straightforward conversion to level the scores again, at 12-12.

Lurgan’s response was swift. Having won a penalty just outside Bangor’s twenty-two and on the left-hand side, they opted to kick for goal. Despite the wind in his face, the Lurgan kicker found his target which moved the visitors into a narrow 12-15 lead.

With the game now finely balanced, both sides looked for the next score which would maybe settle the outcome. Despite their efforts, both Lurgan and Bangor saw chances go begging either through solid defending or poor ball-handling. However, it was Gareth Millar who finally broke the deadlock with a perfectly weighted cross-field kick which landed in the arms of Mark Widdowson who then sprinted the final few metres before diving over the line for a well-taken try. Larmour was on target once again with the conversion to put Bangor back into the lead by 19-15.

Game management was now the order of the day for Bangor and, as they continued to keep Lurgan at bay, they sensibly converted a straightforward penalty to stretch their lead to 7 points and, with only a few minutes left to play, Bangor closed out the remainder of the game to record a welcome victory which also leapfrogged them above Lurgan in the league standings.

With no match scheduled for next weekend, Bangor can only look on from the side-lines as other teams catch up on earlier postponed matches, before travelling to league winners in waiting, Enniskillen, for their final league game. Hopefully that will be a celebration for both sides, and a fitting finale to the season.