Bonus point win brings Accies back into promotion mix

OMAGH Accies atoned for their dismal 20-0 reverse at City of Derry just before the Christmas break by inflicting a 24-8 defeat on the same opposition in Energia All-Ireland League 2C at the Thomas Mellon Playing Fields on Saturday.

The bonus point triumph has lifted Glenn Kyle’s side up to fifth in the table, one point behind Tullamore and the coveted promotion play-off places.

The margin of victory could, perhaps, have been more emphatic had the Accies taken a couple more of their chances, but Saturday was all about the result and gaining confidence on the back of a performance.

And that’s what they delivered, starting brightly with Luke Hanson opening the scoring with an unconverted effort that was soon added to through outhalf, Kyle Beattie, who then converted before having to leave the fray with a hamstring injury.

Just before the loss of their number 10, Philip Ewing made it 17-0 with an unconverted effort, while Derry landed a penalty to get themselves onto the scoreboard.

The Accies continued to hold the upper hand throughout the second half and Neil Brown almost claimed an intercept which would have granted him free reign to canter home.

However, moments later, Ryan Mitchell did just that with the bonus point touchdown. The winger, broke from his own half to score one of the tries of the season with a sensational effort, which was converted by Scott Elliott to make it 24-3.

Derry responded in the closing stages with an unconverted try of their own, but at that stage it mattered little to the overall outcome of the match.

“It was massive to get a win and a bonus point today,” beamed returning front rower, Mark Smyth, who played 30 minutes off the bench after missing the last 18 weeks with an achillies injury. He continued: “It’s massive. We were disappointed with our performance down there, we really let ourselves down. We had a lot of hard words and it was good to turn out a performance.

“We probably left two or three tries out there but we’re happy with a bonus point at home. You can’t really complain about that and the second half performance.

“It keeps us in the fight for the top four, which is still within our grasp.”

Omagh face two crunch fixtures in the next two weeks – a trip to Midleton who are sixth after losing 18-10 to Tullamore on Saturday and a home clash with Clonmel who were defeated 27-11 by Enniscorthy.

If the Accies can win both of those games, they will be well placed for the final furlong of the season, which may well be extended by a game or two.

“We just need to put in a couple of performances away from home, starting next week at Midleton,” Smyth observed.

“There’s nowhere really harder to go but if we go down there with the same mentality of our home games we can definitely come away with something. It would be massive if we can get a result down there, it would take us on another step and we have Clonmel the week after.

“This block of three [including the Derry game] is so important and if we can get three wins then it sets us up nicely for the last six or seven games.”

Omagh Accies: D Braden, P Ewing, S Creane, R Sproule, Ja Sproule, R Armstrong, A Longwell (cpt), M Clyde, T Lagan, K Beattie, N Brown, L Hanson, S Barr, R Mitchell, S Elliott. Replacements: M Edgar, R Hemphill, M Smyth, D Kane, F Lagan.

Elsewhere, Omagh Accies seconds lost 46-6 at Limavady in the Towns Cup on Saturday, while Omagh Academy claimed an impressive 41-12 away win over Grosvenor in the third round of the Schools’ Cup to set up a clash at RBAI on or before January 29th when Royal School Dungannon tackle Wallace High School.