Accies suffer opening day defeat

OMAGH Accies’ return to Ulster Championship One ended in disappointment on Saturday as old habits returned to haunt them during a 17-25 defeat to Lurgan at the Thomas Mellon Playing Fields.

During their final few seasons in the All-Ireland Leagues, individual errors and the concession of too many penalties cost them dear, culminating in their relegation back to provincial rugby.

And on Saturday those issues again proved decisive as Lurgan sealed a somewhat surprising try scoring bonus point victory against an Omagh side who were keen to build some early season momentum.

“It wasn’t a great result, but there were some positives to take from it,” observed new Accies head coach Stewart McCain.

“On the whole, we just made too many mistakes; gave away too many penalties, which gave them easy entries into our 22.

“A few mistakes and a lot of penalties given away stopped our momentum going forward and obviously it then gave them momentum and field position.

“Sometimes it’s decision making and sometimes it’s basic skills… It’s a mix of everything, I suppose.”

The game started on an even footing with a David Braden try and a Scott Elliott penalty leading to the scores being tied at 10-10 by the interval.

In the second half, however, Lurgan stretched ahead and even though Ryan Mitchell’s try was converted by Elliott, it was the County Armagh-based men who ran out fairly comfortable victors in the end.

After watching his side in competitive action for the first time, McCain acknowledges there is plenty for him and his players to work on ahead of their trip to Randalstown tomorrow (Saturday) and beyond in a very competitive division.

“We knew, no matter who you play in this league, it’s going to be tough. There are no easy games,” he added.

“You see it today [last Saturday]: Enniskillen lose, Dromore lose. I’m not sure anyone predicted those results, so there are no easy games and we have to get a bit better right across the board.

“It was a tough day condition wise, with the lineout which was hard and they probably adapted to that a little better than we did.

“But we’ll be raring to go again next week against Randalstown, which will be another very tough game and we have to be better than we were today, which, if we are, will hopefully mean we get a better result.”