Bonus point win for Accies

OMAGH Accies picked up their first win of the season on Saturday, ensuring a five point return in the process at Randalstown where they scored five tries during a fairly comfortable victory.

Having been stung by defeat to Lurgan in their first game back in the Ulster Championship after being relegated from the All-Ireland Leagues at the end of last year, Omagh produced a much more cohesive and focused performance against the County Antrim men.

They ironed out the individual errors and lapses in discipline which have blighted the majority of their performances over the last few seasons and gave themselves a timely confidence boost in the process as tries from Reece Braden, skipper Matthew Clyde, Sean Kerr (2) and Ryan Mitchell, as well as three Scott Elliott conversions, earned them the bonus point win on the day.

“We were a bit frustrated after last week [against Lurgan] when a few errors let us down and discipline, but we went out determined to fix a lot of those things after a good week’s training,” try-scorer Mitchell explained. “We started really well, our scrum was very dominant and the pack was getting over the gain line well. We missed a few early chances but we had a strong 20 minutes before half time when we scored three tries.

“They came back at us for 20 minutes of the second half, but we finished strong after that.

“It was much improved in terms of accuracy and getting us over the gain-line [epitomised by Jamie Sproule’s performance]. It was a good result.”

This coming Saturday, Omagh visit Ballymena II in the Junior Cup when Mitchell hopes they continue the level of performance they produced against Randalstown.

“We know when we put a performance together we can beat most sides, so it’s about getting that more regularly, which is what we want,” he said.

“The aim [is to build momentum and a run of form]. We have Ballymena in the cup next so we will train hard during the week and back it up next week.”