Ignatians Duo Gain County Honours

Enfield Ignatians can reflect with a surge of pride that two players, Dannan O'Meachair and U16s youth player Ethan Renny, have donned the blue and white of Middlesex.

Dannan, making his county debut, had a tough baptism of fire against a strong Hampshire outfit which mastered visiting Middlesex 41-19 in the county championship opener at Portsmouth on April 27th..

The left wing said: "I didn't see much of the ball. Boosted by a strong Guernsey contingent and with a good pack, a well organised and very clinical Hampshire scored two tries in the first ten minutes. I made a couple of good breaks but otherwise we were on the defensive for a lot of the time."

The player also incurred the wrath of the referee and his county journey nded prematurely on 65 minutes when he was sin-binned. "I was penalised for side-entry in a ruck and some of the spectators said afterwards that the decision was a bit harsh as the ball was out."

"I didn't come on after that, as there were only five minutes left on the clock, but I really enjoyed the experience although I had to do a lot of tackling, and I'm aiming to be in the mix for the Middlesex game against Sussex on May 11th," he added.

Ethan Renny continued his remarkable comeback after featuring in the Middlesex U16s thrilling 15-14 win over Surrey in a game which went down to the wire at Chiswick.

Having made a stirring recovery from a life-threatening illness last December, Ethan travelled more in hope than confidence as one of three non-playing reserves.

However, with Surrey very much in the ascendancy after leading 14-3 at half-time, the selectors took a gamble by recalling Ethan to county colours, and it paid off as the player scored a try which sparked a famous fightback as Middlesex moved to within five points.

Going to the final minute, Surrey had the game all but won but they will regret missing a penalty and, going to the final play of the game, Middlesex had no option to run the ball back from their own line, and it worked spectacularly as the blue and whites fashioned a great score.

Still, the odds were against stacked heavily against Middlesex as the kick was from the touchline. However, the kicker held his nerve and his sweet, spectacular strike engineered the most unlikely of victories.