Defence is key as Clogher make a winning start

CLOGHER Valley got their All Ireland League 2B campaign off to a winning start with a hard fought victory against Rainey at Hatrick Park.

More than anything this was a win built on solid defence and Valley coach Stephen Bothwell was delighted how his players had stood up to the test against a big Rainey pack.

“We defended very hard and that was essentially the winning of the game,” said the coach.

“We will need to tidy things up a bit for Malone at home next week. In some aspects we didn’t play particularly well but we are delighted to get off to a winning start.

“That said Rainey were pushing for the play-off last year and I think they only lost twice at home. We lost down there last year.”

Clogher were first out of the blocks on Saturday and after a good passage of play Adam Smyton stepped around his marker to pass to centre Josh Kyle, who touched down to open the scoring.

David Maxwell added the extras and the same player converted a penalty shortly afterwards to stretch the visitors advantage to 10 points.

But Rainey responded and put their first points on the board following a maul close to the Clogher line. The hosts also added a penalty to leave it a two point game.

The second half turned into a war of attrition with the Valley defence standing up to the most intense scrutiny.

Aaron Dunwoody led the way by tackling everything that moved as well as crucially turning over possession on a number of occasions.

That provided the platform and when an opportunity presented itself to score, winger Karl Bothwell sprinted three quarters the length of the field to register a crucial breakaway try.

Rainey did score a second try but it went unconverted and Clogher held on to win by just two points.