By 
SATURDAY’S 35-28 defeat at UL Bohemians was the best worst Energia All-Ireland League 2B result that Clogher Valley could have hoped for.
The defeat came with a try-scoring bonus point and because they finished within seven points of their rivals, they returned home with a two points haul, which was enough to keep them second in the table, one point ahead of the Bohs.
“We were well in it all the time but every time we scored we seemed to do something silly to give them field position and then they’d score, but fair play to us, we kept going and got the scores [needed to get four tries],” Valley head coach, Stephen Bothwell observed.
“To get those two points is huge, so it’s all to play for still. It’s a big ask to go to Galwegians, to try and win up there to keep ahead of them and keep second place, but first things first, we have Sligo [on Saturday] so we’ll try to win there and keep the pressure on.
“It’s all we can do and it’s still in our own hands.”
Bohs led 14-0 at the break following a first half when Clogher had the breeze at their backs, but in the second half tries from Taine Haire, Karl Bothwell and Matthew Bothwell brought them to withing touching distance of two bonus points, which was eventually sealed when Joshua Kyle crashed over.
While pleased to have salvaged something from what was a fairly disappointing journey south, Bothwell admits his side will be looking forward to tackling the Bohs again in the play-offs – be that home or away.
“After playing them down here, there were a lot of mistakes made to give them field position and scoring opportunities, so we wouldn’t fear coming down again either,” he added.
“We know we’re going to have to beat them [home or away].
“We were playing into the wind first half and we should have scored towards the end of the first half when our scrum was dominant, but their boy came in at an angle, wheeled it around and [the referee] gave them a penalty!
“We know where we went wrong, but they are a good team, they come onto the ball very hard. They are hard to stop on the carry, they play front-foot ball, but we’d like another crack at them because we know we can pressurise them.”
