Ramsey stole a march on promotion rivals West Park Warriors with a narrow 15-13 win at Mooragh Park.

Ramsey got off to flier after just three minutes. Stand in centre Lance Wyllie crashed down route one and drew a high tackle from Warriors’ scrum half Bill Collins. Fintan Cummins stepped up and slotted the penalty over for a 3-0 lead. Warriors hit back just three minutes later when Ramsey conceded two penalties to give them good field position. Number eight Elliot Lawton piled into the Ramsey midfield and earned a penalty right under the sticks. Jerry Dowling made light work of this chance to level the scores.

Warriors took the lead in the thirty seventh minute. Ramsey were down to fourteen after Dave Harding was sin binned and this allowed Warriors to boss the game. They set up camp inside the Ramsey half and waited patiently for mistakes to come. Some hands in the ruck finally gave them their scoring chance and Jerry Dowling hammered home his second penalty of the game to give the visitors a 6-3, which they held until half time.

Ramsey came out of the blocks quicker for the second half. Just two minutes in, some hands on the ground gave Fintan Cummins another shot at goal which he took neatly to level the game at six apiece. He missed two further attempts on four and five minutes before finally hitting his mark for a 9-6 lead after nineteen minutes. Another Cummins penalty on twenty two minutes put Ramsey 12-6 in front and looking like they may just come out on top.

Warriors stand off Jerry Dowling had other ideas however. He put a speculative punt deep into the Ramsey twenty two and when Simon Hirtenstein failed to clear the threat, Ramsey infringed at the ruck to give Dowling a very kickable penalty. His kick went wide but the danger wasn’t over. From the restart, Ramsey failed to claim a bouncing ball and Myles Ellis’ risky pass was intercepted by his opposite number, Warriors’ skipper Mark Nolan, who romped home for a try. Dowling kicked the conversion and Warriors were ahead 13-12 with six minutes to go.

Ramsey threw everything into attack and when Nick McCudden slipped through a tackle he brought them within Cummins’ kicking range. Warriors obliged by coughing up a penalty with just a minute left on the watch and Cummins banged it home for the win.