Late try could be key to Omagh’s survival hopes

A LATE Matthew Eccles try could prove key as Omagh Accies aim to engineer survival and another year in the Energia All-Ireland League 2C ranks.

Just after half-time on Saturday, Omagh looked dead and buried against promotion-chasing Dolphin as they trailed 26-7 with only Matthew Clyde’s converted try to show for their efforts.

But after that, they kicked into gear with Scott Ballantine dotting down for another seven points before David Braden moved them even closer to their visitors, who then knocked over a penalty to stretch their lead just a little bit out of Omagh’s reach.

However, the home side didn’t give up and they salvaged two points from proceedings when Eccles darted over for his side’s fourth try of the game, again, crucially converted by Scott Elliott.

At one stage on Saturday, they were back at the bottom of the table and staring relegation in the face, but after Eccles dotted down to earn his side two bonus points [for four tries and losing within seven points] and with a similar incident playing out in Tullamore where Clonmel came back from the dead with Dean Slattery scoring a last minute try, converted by Joey O’Connor, things look a bit more rosy.

With Tullamore losing 20-21 to Clonmel, where Omagh travel to on the final day of the season this weekend, and the Accies picking up two points, it leaves Glenn Kyle’s men four points above last spot in the table. However, with third from bottom Bruff out of reach, the best Omagh can now achieve is a relegation/promotion play-off place against the round-robin runners-up, but they’d gladly take that option rather than going straight down.

“[Eccles’ try] was a big score because it pulled the scoreline closer together to earn us a couple of extra points,” observed Accies captain Matthew Clyde, who was again pleased by the fight his team-mates showed against Dolphin, but again, he was left to bemoan the defensive fragility that has seen them concede more points than any other team in the division, to leave them in the situation they find themselves.

He continued, “There was some good phases of defence at times but it’s those soft scores that have killed us this season. It’s been the story of our season, we have had good performances at times but we now what the problem is. At the same time, we showed good heart to come back because at stages in that game, looking at the scoreline, you’d have thought we were down and out and we’d come away with nothing. We had to dig deep, right to the end, but you have to keep playing.

“We’d like to not be in the position of chasing games but I can’t fault the effort and determination from the guys, but if we could sort out or defence and stop leaking these soft tries. There are periods were doing well and the next thing a lack of concentration or lack of discipline lets the opposition in and the scoreboard starts ticking.

“We’re scoring a lot of tries [in recent weeks] but we’re conceding too many so we’ll build on that ahead of Clonmel this weekend and hopefully then a play-off match in a couple of week.”