Callum’s double edges Clogher closer to a play-off berth

CLOGHER Valley edged even closer to a promotion play-off at Dungannon after beating Galwegians 21-10 at The Cran on Saturday, thanks to Callum Smyton’s brace of tries and a touchdown from Matthew Bothwell.

“Hopefully, hopefully [we’ll play Dungannon in the play-offs] but there’s a way to go yet,” Valley head coach Stephen Bothwell acknowledged ahead of their final two regular season games at champions-elect Wanderers this coming Saturday and at home against Malone a week later.

He added: “We have a wee bit to go yet with Wanderers away, which will be a big ask and then Malone at home. We’ll go down [to Wanderers] as a free crack at it and see how we get on. Mathematically we can still be caught [and miss out on the play-offs], there’s nothing booked and the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.

“We still have a bit of work to do, but we got over the line [against Galwegians] with a lot of improvements to be made, which is nice, but that’s where we are.”

Bothwell’s men battled back from an early 0-10 deficit to win with plenty to spare in the end, thanks to two Callum Smyton tries and a Matthew Bothwell touchdown, while David Maxwell knocked over the rest with his trusty boot.

And Valley head coach, Stephen Bothwell, was pleased to see his side earn what could be a key win come season’s end against a team they went toe-to-toe with in the promotion chase from Energia All-Ireland 2C last season.

“I’m delighted because Galwegians are a very good team, who play a lot of rugby but our defence was excellent and won out,” he observed. “They went 10-0 up but we got it back to 10-7 at half-time. We were against the wind [in the first half] so I was delighted to get within three points of them by the end of the first half because I thought we could turn it around. But they are one of those teams, any wee squeak and they’ll get you. They are clinical, a good side but I’m delighted to get the four points.”