Fryston Warriors unable to upset odds in cup final at Castleford Tigers ground
Fryston Warriors were unable to crown their season with silverware as they were beaten in the final of the BARLA 1973 Supplementary Cup final.
The Yorkshire B Conference side were up against a strong Hunslet ARLFC team who recently triumphed in the inaugural National League Grand Final and could not upset the odds as they suffered a 42-0 defeat.
The final was played at Castleford Tigers’ OneBore Stadium and saw Fryston behind from the eighth minute when former Cas and Dewsbury Rams player Caelum Jordan crossed out wide after good work by Harry Shackleton and Josh McLelland.
Craig McShane completed a raid involving Jack McShane and Lewis Heckford to grab his first touchdown, on 19 minutes, and Harry Dodd raced in from 70 metres after scooping up a grubber by Fryston’s Mac Penny.
Ryan Morley bustled over to help establish an 18-0 lead, prior to the Warriors’ Ryan Joseph having a try disallowed.
Craig McShane, who played for Dewsbury in the Championship last season, also missed out in reaching for the line.
He was able to force his way through a posse of defenders early in the second period, however, and Alfie Goddard nipped in on the hour after pouching Heckford’s astute kick.
Jordan swept over in the corner, off Dodds’ pass, deep into the final quarter and, despite having Jamie Field sin-binned on 73 minutes for an alleged trip, Hunslet closed in style with tries for Joe Abson – who romped over after being first to a Jack McShane kick – and young prop Ralph Normington, who converted his own score.
Shackleton had previously landed one goal from five attempts and Heckford kicked one from two, while Jordan missed his sole shot on a day on which most tries were scored out wide.
The final score did not reflect the nature of the contest, however, as the Warriors – who reached the play-offs at their own level after a strong league campaign – had their moments in the game. They never stopped trying and were unlucky not to put points on the board.
They had two efforts disallowed, Ryan Joseph being ruled offside in chasing irrepressible stand-off Calvin Sandhu’s kick shortly before half-time, and Louie Tomlinson having a score ruled out on 52 minutes after a high kick had eluded Hunslet’s rearguard.
After the game Fryston coach Kyle Kesik said: “I can’t fault our lads for effort, but it was always going to be difficult against a team that operates four divisions higher than us – and the fact that we hadn’t played for four weeks obviously didn’t help.”