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OMAGH Academy’s rugby first XV will take on their Foyle College counterparts in the Danske Bank Schools Trophy final after Ryan Mitchell’s men overcame Grosvenor in the last four at Campsie on Saturday morning.
The 21-7 victory was a deserved result for the Academy lads on the day, who had Eoin McCusker, Matthew McClung and Sam Harper to thank for scoring tries, while fullback Jack Adams produced a man of the match performance with last-ditch tackles and fine ball fielding.
“It was a decent performance with some really good individual performances, including from Jack Adams, our fullback, who was excellent,” teacher in charge of rugby, Mitchell beamed.
“It was a positive result and a positive performance, so we now have a final to look forward to.”
And that place in a showpiece leaves the Academy lads within touching distance of following in Mitchell’s footsteps as one of the few Omagh captain’s to lift an Ulster Schools’ trophy after he led the school’s first XV to win the same piece of silverware at Stevenson Park in Dungannon 14 years ago when they beat Larne Grammar 9-5.
“The guys in 2012 and ‘13 won the bowl but as I said to the guys, there’s not too many first XV teams that get to a schools final regardless of what the competition is,” Mitchell added.
Omagh started Saturday’s last four clash on the front foot but immediately came up against a well-drilled and stubborn Grosvenor defence who kept them at bay until the final moments of the first half when McCusker managed to find a gap in the corner and when Harper knocked over the conversion, they led 7-0 at the interval.
“It was a real tough game. We were dominant in the first half but Grosvenor really stuck at it and it was 0-0 until the final play before half-time when Eoin McCusker scored in the corner and Sam Harper converted,” Mitchell said.
“We had been camped in their half for 25 of the minutes of the first half but didn’t take our chances because of some basic errors from us and so on.
“We scored, but our message was going to be the same – fix our basics and we’ll get the chances.”
And Mitchell was correct as straight after the restart, they scored again when McClung added his name to the scoresheet. An impressive maul set the platform as the Academy lads trundled down the pitch before earning a penalty. The subsequent kick to the corner resulted in another maul, which Grosvenor stopped but McClung then ran a lovely angle off a Sam Harper pass to score a converted try, with Harper adding the extras.
Grosvenor then made the tie a bit more interesting when they scored a converted breakaway effort but Harper put the result beyond doubt with a lovely chip and chase try and converted it himself to seal their place in the final against a Foyle side, who saw off Belfast High School on the other side of the draw.
