Birkmyre surrender first-half lead as Cumnock claim first win of season

Birkmyre collapsed to defeat at the weekend to give visitors Cumnock their first victory of the season.

Birkmyre were leading 21-8 in the first half, but despite Cumnock being down to 14 men for the last 20 minutes, they overcame the deficit to win 34-26 in Saturday’s Arnold Clark West Region League Division 2 match at Kilmacolm.

Cumnock opened the scoring in the first couple of minutes. Having won a penalty in front of the posts 30m out, they slotted a kick over for three points.

From the restart, Birkmyre immediately replied. Having recovered the kick-off, the forwards gained valuable yards. Scrum-half Tom McGeoch then made a line break and popped the ball to Okan Akdeniz, who from 35m out went down the pitch and managed to ground the ball as he was being tackled. David Cruickshank converted.

Five minutes later, Michael McGeoch stretched the lead. From a penalty 10m out, Birkmyre chose to run the ball. After a couple of phases, the ball went wide where Cruickshank slipped in McGeoch, who went through from 5m out to make it 12-3. Again, the conversion was slotted over.

In the 18th minute, Cumnock scored their first try. A poor clearance kick from Birkmyre went straight into the hands of the Cumnock full-back. From 15m inside his own half, he avoided three tackles whilst charging towards Birkmyre’s 22 before passing to their winger, who also broke a tackle to score.

Birkmyre extended their lead with eight minutes left in the half when captain Ross Moglia went over. From a penalty 5m out, the forwards drove to within inches of the line. McGeoch then popped the ball from the base of the ruck to Moglia, who was unstoppable from only a metre out.

The scoring wasn’t over as Cumnock managed a further try before the break. From a penalty 20m out, Birkmyre got their defensive numbers wrong, allowing an overlap to the left which the visitors capitalised on.

Birkmyre still held a six-point advantage going into the second period. Although not a substantial lead, confidence was still high that a victory could be secured. However, despite Cumnock going down to 14 players for 10 minutes due to a yellow card, they scored in the 58th minute. Birkmyre only had themselves to blame, having the ball ripped from their possession and then losing the kick-and-chase battle for Cumnock to close the gap to one point.

Cumnock then took the lead, again whilst a player down. Birkmyre failed again to deal with another kick through, and the Ayrshire side did not turn down the invitation to turn territory into points. However, immediately after the score, there was a coming together of players and the Cumnock scrum-half saw red for throwing a punch.

In the 69th minute, Birkmyre brought the deficit back to one point. From a ruck 7m out, McGeoch threw a long looping pass to Hannah on the wing. He beat his opposite number to dive in at the corner.

With a player advantage, Birkmyre should have been the favourites to clinch the victory. However, they continued to make errors and waste promising chances. Finally, in the dying minutes of the match, Birkmyre needlessly kicked the ball away. Cumnock then counter-attacked from their own 22, went down the pitch and scored to secure the victory.

The defeat drops Birkmyre to fourth in the league, and they take on fifth-placed Lomond Helensburgh this Saturday away from home.

Photos – with thanks to Fiona Wallace