Omagh Accies come up short at Dromore

OMAGH Accies captain Matthew Clyde said poor game management and individual errors cost his team in the Ulster Championship One game at Dromore on Saturday.

The Accies stormed into a 17-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes but they allowed their opponents to gain a foothold either side of the interval, and, despite a strong finish, couldn’t get across the line.

While disappointed with the result, Clyde said there were also plenty of positives to take from the game.

Omagh meet Dromore again in a Junior Cup tie in two weeks’ time and the skipper believes if his players take the learning from Saturday’s encounter and put it to good use they have a good opportunity to progress.

“I think in Saturday’s game we showed how we could hurt Dromore especially during what was a composed, controlled start to the game,” he said.

“We just need to learn to keep that going, individual errors allowed our opponents to get back in the game and once they got into the 22 they took their chances.”

Omagh were first out of the blocks with Matthew Eccles crossing for the first try of the day which was converted by Scott Elliott.

Elliott then added a penalty and converted again after second row Mervyn Edgar touched down.

At that stage the visitors were well on top but Dromore hit back with two quick tries, one of which was converted before Elliott landed another penalty to leave Omagh ahead 20-12 at the interval.

Dromore continued to punish Omagh mistakes at the beginning of the new half and before the visitors knew it they were 26-20 down.

Eccles then got binned for an illegal tackle out wide and the home side converted the resultant penalty try to lead it 33-20 going down the home stretch.

A Phil Ewing try, again converted by Elliott, gave the Accies real hope of taking something from the game but another successful penalty for Dromore gave them the breathing space of a two score game.

Omagh piled on the pressure in the closing stages in a bid to rescue the game and before the final whistle Dromore had two men yellow carded for infringments.

Flanker Reece Braden also barged over the line but the referee ruled that the ball hadn’t been grounded.

The visitors kept banging on the door but ultimately their efforts proved in vain as Dromore held on for a slender victory.