Bruff late show consigns Omagh Accies to defeat

OMAGH Accies survival hopes are looking bleak after they lost 23-20 at home to Bruff on Saturday, a result that leaves them bottom of the Energia All-Ireland League 2C table, two points behind Tullamore.

The Accies have now lost four games in a row against the two teams nearest them in the table – Tullamore and Bruff – and those results have seen them fall from third from bottom in the standings to last place.

That form and those results wouldn’t fill too many with hope, but a much-improved performance on Saturday against Bruff, during which they led 20-16 until the final moments before Paul Collins dotted down and then converted to snatch victory for the visitors, has given Accies captain Matthew Clyde some renewed hope.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was a disappointing end [to the match],” he admitted. “We played really well and there were opportunities [for a fourth try bonus point] but in the last five minutes they had the pressure on and there was only a minute or less left from the kick-off when they scored.

“It was gutting, tough, but it was a much-improved performance. The guys put their bodies on the line and played some real entertaining rugby too at times. There are a lot of positives to take from it but obviously the result is disappointing because we let it slip away from us.

“The performance was definitely there in a lot of parts, but there are still a lot of things to work on and if we could cut out the discipline and things like that we’d have won that game.”

‘Discipline’ has been a key word throughout this season when Clyde talks post-match, with the concession of penalties costing his team on a regular basis and that was again a key part of the match on Saturday.

The fact that Collins scored 13 points with his boot tells a tale and it meant that Omagh, despite being the better team on the day, were never able to engineer a healthy lead over their visitors, who also had Cillian Rea on the scoresheet with a try.

In the end those extra points from the tee proved crucial as Omagh’s three tries, scored by Matty Eccles, Phil Ewing and Conor Spencer allied to Scott Elliott’s one conversion and a penalty left them three points shy in the end with only a losing bonus point to show for their efforts.

And now, the Accies face the considerable task of going to league leaders, Midleton, this coming Saturday needing to gain something positive, to give them a platform from which to build over the remainder of the season, if they are to retain any hopes of keeping their senior status for next season.

“We have to keep positive, keep performing like that and cut out the mistakes. We’ll work on cutting out the mistakes this week and go to Midleton and hope to get a result there,” Clyde added.

“We have to focus on ourselves. There are a lot of positives there [following the Bruff game] but obviously the boys are disappointed. It felt like the win slipped a way from us but we have to stay positive, chip away, cut out the mistakes and keep building on the good things we did and hopefully get a good result next weekend.”