Bangor complete domestic treble with Powerade Towns' Cup final victory over Enniskillen

Bangor completed the domestic treble by beating Enniskillen in the spring sunshine at Kingspan Stadium in an entertaining Towns Cup final.

It was the first time the Upritchard Park side had won the Town’s cup since 1975 and they add it to the Junior Cup and the Qualifying League One title.

Bangor outscored the Fermanagh side by five tries to three and looked to have the game secured went they went into a 31-25 lead with 15 minutes remaining but two quick scores from Enniskillen set up and exciting finish.

Adam Lendrum missed an early penalty for Enniskillen and Neil Cuthbertson missed one for Bangor before the Co Down side broke the deadlock on eight minutes.

Enniskillen lost a lineout in their own 22, Bangor flanker David Bradford seized the loose ball and was able to power over from close range with Cuthbertson converting from close range.

Bangor’s second try on 32 minutes came from another misfiring Enniskillen lineout, they lost the ball in the 22 and the Bangor forwards rumbled over the line but were held up, from the resulting five metre scrum replacement flanker David Caughey powered over for an unconverted try.

Jason Morgan’s side got their third try in first half stoppage time when the player/coach went through a gap in the Enniskillen defence to go under the posts and Cuthbertson converted to give Bangor a 19-0 lead at the interval.

Enniskillen opened their account with a penalty from Lendrum 40 seconds after the restart.

Bangor got their third try on 49 minutes.

Kiwi scrum half Jason Guthrie made scything break through the Enniskillen defence carrying the ball into the 22 and he pooped the ball to Bradford and the flanker went under the posts for his second try which he converted himself with a drop kick.

Enniskillen went up the pitch from the restart and scored.

Full back Ashley Finlay made a break , Steve Neill came into the line and the ball was moved to the left wing for James Ferguson to score with Lendrum converting.

Lendrum added a penalty from in from of the posts with a penalty after Bangor were caught offside.

Bangor’s fifth and final try came on 65 minutes, they moved the ball through the hands to create space for full back Mark Widdowson to barge over from close range but Cuthberson failed to convert.

Enniskillen scored to tries in the final 10 minutes.

Ferguson went over from his second when from in the Bangor 22 Nick Finlay made a sniping blindside break before putting the winger over in the corner but Lendrum failed to convert from a difficult angle.

Centre Matt Maguire scored a solo try when he received the ball 30 metres out and showed good foot work and speed to go under the posts and Lendrum’s conversion took Enniskillen to within a converted score but they couldn’t force and opportunities in the dying minutes and Morgan missed an penalty to give Bangor a more comfortable cushion.

BANGOR: M Widdowson; N Cuthbertson, J Morgan, M Weir, D Fusco; G Millar, J Guthrie; M Ferguson, C McEvoy, P Whyte; D Kelly, C Burton; M Aspley, D Bradford, J Clegg

Replacements: O McIlmurray, J Leary, D Caughey, C Stewart, R Gamble.

Enniskillen: A Finlay; J Ferguson, M Maguire, A Wilkinson, S Neil; A Lendrum, N Finlay; G Warrington, R Cathcart, S Fox; K Holden, D Buchanan, J Johnston, R Johnston, R Lee.

Replacements: G Beatty, S Welsh, M Cadden, J Harte, Z Charlton

Ref P Martin