Saturday saw the annual fixture of Malone U14 v Campbell College U14B's for the Finlay Porter Trophy. This match is in memory of Finlay who came through Malone Mini's and then played for CCB.
It was Malone who got the first points of the match with a well worked early try, however Campbell quickly responded to level the score at 7-7. In the dying minutes of the first half Campbell powered forward and scored another to lead 14-7 at the break.
The early stages of the second half saw both teams match more or less cancel each other out with solid defending by both sides and it took until midway through the second half before a breakthrough saw Malone score their second try to level the match at 14-14.
It was, as always, a keenly contested battle and looked destined to end in a draw, however, in the final minute Malone won a penalty 5m from their own line and, in what turned out to be the last play of the game, Mark tapped and went and managed to run the full length of the pitch to score his third and what proved to be the winning try in the corner.
And so Malone retained the Finlay Porter Cup for another year, winning by 19-14. The Cup was presented to Malone by Finlay’s father and former Scottish International Stewart, and he also awarded Mason the well-deserved man of the match trophy for his ball carrying and tackling.
Again this match proved to be a great showcase for both school and club rugby at this age group and the large crowd of supporting parents were treated to a fantastic match.