Belfast Harlequins take the spoils at a wet Deramore Park

6 December 2025, Deramore Park , Belfast -Round 8, AIL D2C.

BELFAST HARLEQUINS RFC 24 - 13 BECTIVE RANGERS FC

Bective Rangers hit a bump in the road in Belfast losing out to Belfast Harlequins in Round 8 of AIL Division 2C. The team had a different look from last week with over 5 changes plus 2 off the bench due to injuries. Although starting well, Bective had to play catch up for most of the game on a wet and dreary Belfast day.

That said, Bective started brightly peppering the Quins line early on but Matthew Gilsenan took the 3 points after Quins were penalised. Despite the early setbacks, Quins roared back with some fine interchanging by their backs. After a few close misses, Quins won a scrum near the Bective line and quick ball from scrum half McCracken put Luke Graham in under the posts with McCracken adding the points to leave the score at 7 – 3 to Quins. Unfortunately, Bective’s possession was being hampered by a combination of the greasy ball and Quins disruption tactics stopping any forward momentum. So it was with the home side dominating the possession and displaying their quality with some deft handling by their backs in the atrocious conditions. That said the Bective defence was up to the task against the strong running Quins centre partnership.

Bective’s chance came after a Quins breakdown inside the Bective half from where the busy Oisin McCloskey carried before offloading to the also busy James Gallagher carrying all the way to the Quins line and from the ruck Gav Kelly barrelled over, with the conversion missed, Bective were in front after 30 min 8-7 and with some momentum restored. However, Quins had other ideas and from the restart set-up camp in Bective’s 22, then with one of their trademark moves and quick hands, centre Luke Graham was over near the posts converted by McCracken .

(Half-time: Belfast Harlequins 14 - 8 Bective Rangers)

The second half started with a prolonged downpour which was to benefit one side or the other, saturating the pitch. But it was Harlequins who adapted to the wet conditions the better, keeping Bective pinned in their own half. On 48 mins opting wisely to take 3 points from the penalty on the Bective 22, McCracken duly obliged to put 2 scores between the sides 17-8. With nothing going right for Bective except for the brilliant defence from all the players keeping Quins at bay. With still some hope that the momentum would swing back to Bective, a key moment in the contest came when the Quins full back Mark Glover fielded a kick near the touchline, with a suspicion of a foot in touch, he offloaded to Nathaniel Peters who waltzed through to touch down in the corner. Referee and touch judge hesitated and looked at each other, but the try was awarded. With McCracken adding the extras, Bective now had a mountain to climb 24 -8. To be fair to the players and replacements, they stayed in the fight and fought on, repelling further Quins attacks and with some great play they owned the last quarter. Bective finally got their try after a great lineout take from Gavin Kelly for the pack to rumble over with Chris Hennessy touching down with the difficult conversion missed 24-13 to Quins. With a bit of luck after a super break from Dave McPolin, Bective may have had another try on full time. To give Bective their due they finished the game on top and while there was no losing bonus point and but for that curious try, they would have held Quins try-less for the second half.

Next up, Bective are at home to DIV 2C league leaders Clonmel RFC , in what promises to be a fantastic match on Saturday 13th December @ 2.30pm, Donnybrook.

Scorers: Bective Rangers: Tries — Gavin Kelly , Chris Hennessy . Penalty — M. Gilsenan (1)

Bective Rangers 1st XV: 15 Chris Rolland, 14 David McPolin, 13 Bobby Holland, 12 Matthew Gilsenan (capt), 11Ben Garrett, 10 Oliver Foote, 9 Connor Halpenny; 1 Rory Mulvihill, 2 Chris Hennessy, 3 Conor Kelly, 4 Tadgh Dwyer, 5 Donagh Lawlor, 6 Oisin McCloskey, 7 Gavin Kelly, 8 James Gallagher.
Replacements: 16 Luke Mion, 17 Shane Ryan, 18 Mark O’Brien, 19 Conor Murphy, 20 Tim Molony.

Referee: Oisin Quinn, Rainey RFC, USR IRFU.