Clogher gift ‘Clare a Christmas victory

A HOWLING wind and lashing rain greeted Clogher Valley and Ballyclare firsts at the Cran on Saturday when the home side gifted their visitors an pre-Christmas victory after giving up a 14-0 lead.

While the weather conditions did not suit either of the two teams, both of whom play a brand of open rugby, it was Clogher who started brightly.

Valley kicked off, playing towards the clubhouse but the ball did not go 10 metres and Ballyclare had the first of their dominant scrums. After some open play Valley secured the ball and David Maxwell made a great break and with a lot of support scored and converted the first try.

The wind and rain increased, and the crowd retired to the Hub and Garden Room as Ballyclare responded strongly, but Armstrong intercepted on the 10m line and was well supported by Maxwell to score another converted try for a 14-0 after just 12 minutes.

At that stage it looked as though the home side was in for a fairly comfortable day at the office, but they went off the boil from that stage on as they struggled with Ballyclare’s set-piece and the visitors seized the initiative from that point.

The Clogher lineout and scrum were under pressure from Ballyclare, and it was no surprise that every time they had a chance to kick a penalty into the Valley 22 m they did so. This resulted in a catch and drive on 25 minutes, which went unconverted and another on 38 minutes, which was converted and a penalty as the visitors stormed into a 14-17 lead at the interval.

After the restart, Valley spilled the ball, Clare secured it and spread the ball wide, first to the left, then the right and created a 3 v 1 overlap to score an unconverted try in the corner.

Ballyclare continued their dominance and when a tackle was missed in the middle of the field they scored a converted try under the posts to lead by 15 with 30 minutes remaining.

The Clogher coaches made some tactical changes, and they began to achieve dominance in the scrum. They put pressure on in the Clare 22, the ball went loose, and Callum Smyton pounced to score a try converted by Maxwell five minutes from time. The remainder of the match involved a lot of “kick tennis “between the two teams with no side gaining and dominance.

Player of the Match Jamie Allen.

Clogher Valley squad : Euan Haire, Karl Bothwell, Michael Bothwell, Paul Armstrong (cpt),Jake Woods, David Maxwell, Matthew Bothwell, Jamie Allen, Aaron Crawford, Neil Henderson, Joel Busby, Joel Busby, Tommi Coulter, David Poyntz, Aaron Dunwoody, Callum Smyton, Josh Fegan, Kyle Cobane, James Morrison, Michael Treanor, Regan Wilkinson.

Clogher Valley II26

Ballyclare II19

VALLEY seconds faced a strong Ballyclare 2nd XV in the Ulster 2nd XV League and started off with the wind and rain in their backs.

The score at half time was 19 – 7 to Clogher. The first try came from Rodney Bennett, the second by Shane Liggett and the third by Neil Cullen. Two of the tries were converted by Cullen. Turning round with the elements in their face was a difficult task but they knuckled down and Rodney Bennett scored his second try, converted by Neil Cullen. Player of the match Alex McKeown.

Clogher Valley II squad : Neil Cullen, Samuel Carrothers, Jason Bothwell, Shane Liggett, Joshua Robinson, Robbie Mills, Neil Trotter, Rodney Bennett, Ryan Phair, Phillip Hopper, Mark McKenna, Brent Scott, Nichloas Bothwell, Alex McKeown, David Sharkey (cpt), Luke Allen, Myles Graham, Dylan Eakin.

City of Armagh IV 34

Clogher Valley III14

A YOUTHFUL Valley 3rd XV travelled to Armagh to play a very good home fourth XV which contained a good mix of youth and experienced ex-firsts players in the McCambley Cup. The weather conditions were dreadful, and the experienced Armagh side adapted to the conditions on their home pitch much better than Clogher. The Valley try scorers were Sam McLaren and David Busby. Both tries were converted by Brian McKeown who was fresh from his journey to Cavan with the youth in the morning.

Clogher Valley IV squad: Grzegorz Koszylowski, Jack Thompson, Thomas Morton, Oliver Caldbeck, Sam McLaren, James Bloomfield, Brian McKeown, Jonathan Hastie, David Busby, James Maxwell (cpt), Christian Clarke, Matthew Wiggins, Daryl Allen, Jamie Allen, Peter Busby, Ronan McAleer, Dean Caldwell, Matthew Boyd.

Youth Round-Up

VALLEY under-18 side, combined with Omagh, won 32-19 at Cavan, where Dara Daly was man of the match and the under-16s side, again a combined team with Omagh, lost 19-42 in Cavan.

On Wednesday night the U16 Girls lost narrowly to Enniskillen U16 girls. 20 – 17 in Mullaghmeen and the U 18 boys also lost narrowly to Enniskillen U 18 at The Cran 22 – 12.

The Clogher Valley Women continue with their success story. Last Sunday (15th December) they beat Monaghan Women in the quarter final of the Suzzanne Fleming cup 44 – 7 (Players of the match were Meabh McGinn and Kendall Glenn) to set up a semi final against Virginia Women.

The team under the captaincy of Katie Hetherington and coached by Richard Haire and David Black are unbeaten in their league and have been rewarded by promotion to the Premier league. Their first game is against local neighbours Enniskillen on Sunday 5th January in Enniskillen with a 2pm kick off.

On Friday night Clogher Valley U12s had their Christmas outing in Ravenhill, giving a guard of honour to the Senior Ulster team as they ran onto the pitch to play Munster. They also kept the crowd entertained at half time when they played a demonstration match against Strabane U1s2.

Harry Maguire and Toby Parsons played in a blitz for the Ulster U16 Southern Regional Development squad, and Zara Wright, Rachael Henderson, and Grace Bracken were part of the Ulster U18 team that played and beat North Leinster 15-10 in Dundalk last Monday. night.