Accies book final berth after sealing derby delight against Dungannon

OMAGH Accies seconds booked their place in the Gordon West Cup final at Ulster’s Kingspan Stadium when they defeated their Dungannon counterparts 32-21 at the Thomas Mellon Playing Fields on Saturday.

In what was a closer contest than the scoreline would suggest, it was Omagh who controlled the game in the main, but Dungannon kept them honest throughout, not allowing the home side to feel too comfortable until the final whistle.

Tries from Jake Reid, Jordan Brolly, Mervyn Edgar (2), Ben Henry and a penalty and two conversions from Andrew Johnston ensured the Accies accumulated enough points to finish comfortably ahead of their rivals from Stevenson Park who had Alfie Lewis, Joe Cashel, Zac Holmes and Aaron Perry amongst their scorers with ball in hand and with the boot.

And while delighted to see his side prevail, Accies seconds skipper, Mark Smyth, who has split his time between the firsts and 2nd XV so fat this season admits earning the win on Saturday was far from easy.

“Dungannon, as a club, were struggling for a while but the last couple of seasons they’ve come back a lot stronger and they are pushing for the top of their league [first XV] and their seconds are a good test, they really were,” he acknowledged. “That’s the second time we’ve played them this season and both times were tough and we have to play them away later on in the season which will be another tough game.

“And Saturday was to and fro. We got to the stage where we were 14-15 points ahead but then Dungannon would come back again so it wasn’t comfortable until the end.”

In good conditions at the Thomas Mellon Playing Fields, it was the Accies who struck first with Reid scoring a try before Lewis responded for Dungannon with a clever chip and chase before Holmes converted to give the visitors the lead. But Omagh responded with Brolly scoring and Johnston converting to give the home side a 12-7 half-time lead and after the interval they didn’t look back as Edgar rolled back the years with two trademark tries before Henry added the finishing touch with their fifth score, while Joe Cashel touched down twice for the visitors before full-time

While thrilled to have helped his side seal a semi-final victory over their near neighbours and book a place at a Ravenhill final, the achievement is somewhat bitter-sweet for skipper Smyth, who will miss the showpiece as he’s getting married on the same day, March 15th.

And having postponed the big day once before due to the arrival of their first child, there is little to no chance he and the soon to be Mrs Smyth, Georgia Stewart, will be doing so again.

“The final is the same day as my wedding,” he added.

“I don’t think we’ll get away with postponing it again, I don’t think it will be acceptable to do it again, so we might have to get a live stream to the venue!”

While a little disappointed to be missing out on running out at Kingspan, Smyth, who captained the 1st XV to two Junior Cup finals at Ulster Rugby HQ a decade ago, will be fully behind his team-mates in spirit on the day when they lock horns with Donaghadee, who denied them another derby clash by seeing off Strabane 27-5 in the other semi-final on Saturday.

“It would have been nice to have met Strabane in the final, with the local rivalry, especially playing at Ravenhill, but it’s Donaghadee who went through, so we’ll prepare for that,” Smyth added.

“The last time I played at Ravenhill was when I was captain of the firsts in 2014-15 when we had two Junior Cup finals in a row and we lost both of them so hopefully the boys can go one better this year and get a win. The boys deserve it.”