By 
A STUNNING final 10 minutes from Clogher Valley’s first XV saw them snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Enniscorthy in Energia All-Ireland League 2B last time out.
With time ticking down, Stephen Bothwell’s men found themselves eight points down. At that stage they were only out of the relegation positions on points difference, but 10 minutes later, after two tries, including one that saw the Valley men go through 29 phases of play, they had sealed a four-try bonus point victory that leaves them fifth in the table, one point off the play-off spots and their season now looks markedly different than it did just before those key moments.
“Good credit to the boys for keeping the ball for such a long period,” Bothwell beamed after their fourth and final score of the match. “That game could easily have got away from us because with 20 minutes from time I thought the boys heads were down. We were eight points behind, two scores, but I’m delighted to get our five points and up the road!”
The first half was fairly nip and tuck with Miguel Byrne putting the home side in front with an unconverted try before the Valley responded with a David Stinson touchdown after good work from Callum Smyton, converted by David Maxwell.
After the restart, Clogher began quickest with Smyton picking up a loose ball, drawing them level with an unconverted score, but the tables turned when Davie Murphy dotted down two minutes later and when Kidd added a penalty just after the hour mark, things looked bleak for the travelling faithful.
Unbowed, the Valley men dug deep when required and with time running out they produced a grandstand finish as Matthew Bothwell pounced at the base of a ruck to score and Aaron Dunwoody crossed the whitewash after that lengthy spell of possession and with Maxwell converting both, they sealed a much needed and potentially season-turning victory.
Valley return to The Cran with a game versus Navan on Saturday when they will be keen to reverse their home form after three defeats in a row this term.
“We want the points there again obviously and we feel if we get it on the right side we should be able to push every team [in the division],” Bothwell added.
“Hopefully [the win over Enniscorthy] is a good way to build confidence going forward because once you get into a rut it can be hard to get out of it.
“So fair play to them, in the last 10 minutes, they really dug deep.”
