Dungannon lads set up derby quarter-final clash with Omagh

ROYAL School Dungannon’s rugby first XV will be gunning for revenge on Saturday, February 8th when they entertain their Omagh Academy counterparts in the quarter-final of the Danske Bank Schools’ Bowl.

A third derby clash of the season is Ali Ferguson’s men’s reward following an impressive performance in both defence and attack at Dromore High School on Wednesday afternoon when they sealed a 39-14 victory, thanks to tries from Isaac Busby, Josh Ferguson (2), Angus Lam, Ben Comac and James Gibson, who kicked the remainder.

That win means they will take on Ross Hunter’s Omagh side for a third time this season and having lost the previous two matches narrowly, including by just two points at the Armstrong Field in the group stage of the Schools Cup proper.

“We expect it [the derby quarter-final] to be a hard game but I think with our trajectory at the moment, we’re excited by it,” Ferguson enthused.

“It’s a quarter-final at home and obviously there are things to take from the previous matches – how good part of Omagh’s game were, which we’ll be more prepared for too.”

Having had their trip to Dromore cancelled at the 11th hour when they were already on the coach on Saturday of last week due to the sub-zero conditions in the aftermath of Storm Eowyn, the Dungannon lads travelled with determination on Wednesday, keen to make progress in the competition.

And having had a warm-up ‘friendly’ against Gareth McClintock’s Banbridge Academy after the Christmas break when they were able to blow the cobwebs out of their system, they got off to a scintillating start to proceedings with a try after only two minutes when Busby scored.

Dromore then responded in style, driving a maul over the line, but Dungannon then took charge of the first half to engineer a 20-10 advantage at the break.

After the restart, the home side, who had the wind at their backs, built a head of steam and they scored an early try to really ramp up the pressure on their visitors.

Dromore then enjoyed a period of sustained possession in the RSD half, but the Tyrone lads stood firm, weathered the storm and then struck back through Gibson to knock the wind out of the home side’s sails.

“The scoreline is probably not the whole story of the game to an extent,” Ferguson acknowledged.

“There was a 10 minute spell when we had a narrow lead at the start of the second half, but we held out through that and then when James Gibson scored we pulled away after that.

“While it looks like it was a really handy one, it really wasn’t until the last 15 minutes.

“I’m delighted with the way the guys played and the fact that when they were under pressure early in the second half, they didn’t panic. There was a maturity in their performance and an element of self-belief.

“For a team that hasn’t won that many games this year, they played with more confidence and composure than even I would have expected.”

Ferguson was also keen to praise the schools rugby development officer, Ryan Ross, who he credited with driving training ahead of the fixture.

“Ryan Ross has been absolutely brilliant with the boys and he has been really pushing it on at training,” he enthused. “He’s helped build a buzz towards this one.”

Omagh, meanwhile, booked their place in a Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Bowl clash with near neighbours Royal School Dungannon after they saw off Bangor Academy in emphatic fashion four days earlier.

With PE teacher Ross Hunter away on the school’s ski trip during the match, former Omagh Accies captain, Ryan Mitchell, a history teacher at the school, who captained the Academy to the Schools’ Trophy title in 2012, took charge and he was delighted with what he saw as his charges took control from start to finish.

Omagh Academy scored six tries with Harry McIlwaine touching down for a hat-trick, Mitchell’s namesake Ryan Mitchell scoring a brace and Lewis McIvor racing in for one try. Sam Harper added the extras to three of the tries.

“The guys played rightly,” Mitchell acknowledged. “With the weather, they haven’t had a fixture since Christmas, so the guys were champing at the bit to get playing but there was also a wariness of is it going to be a rustiness or what. But they started the first half strongly, scored a good early score and Bangor came back at us rightly, but the guys defended well, soaked up pressure for 10-15 minutes and then ended up in their half again to score two tries before half-time.”

Mitchell opened the scoring with that early try, converted by the influential Harper, who then added a second conversion to Harry McIlwaine’s first score of the day which came just after Mitchell sealed his brace.

In the second half McIvor dotted down for an unconverted score before McIlwaine completed his hat-trick with two further tries, one of which was converted by Harper to seal a comfortable win against a Bangor side, who made Omagh work for their win as players such as Sean McClory, who scored their try, Sean Hynes, Isaac Gourley and Steven Boyd stood out with their performances in the course of the game.

But in the end, the County Down boys could do little to counteract the Academy’s quality across the pitch and it was Omagh who booked their place in the last-eight where they will meet either Dromore or Dungannon, whose game was postponed due to the weather last week.

“Bangor came back at us at the start of the second half and a bit of ill-discipline allowed them back into the game,” Mitchell observed. “But we defended resolutely and in the second half of the second half we scored some really nice tries, got back into shape, did what we wanted to do and moved the ball really well.

“We can now look forward to the quarter-final, it’s just a shame it’s not at home one, and whoever it is it will be a tough battle. We haven’t played Dromore this year, but we’ve played Dungannon earlier in the year and it was a good battle, so it will be tough no matter who we get.

“Getting to the final is the aim, but we’ll just take one game at a time because with knockout rugby you have to be on it every time. If you’re a bit off it will cost you. It would be great to get to the final, but we’ll take the quarter-final and go from there.”