Omagh Accies relegated after play-off defeat

OMAGH Accies’ stay in the All-Ireland Leagues ended on Saturday after they suffered a disappointing 15-23 home defeat to Thomond, who will now replace them in 2C next term.

Omagh will return to Ulster Championship 1 in the 2025-26 season where they will be hoping to rebuild in order to return to the senior ranks as soon as possible.

However, in order to do that, they will have to iron out the issues that have blighted the last few seasons in the AIL, during which they have struggled to stop other teams scoring, made too many individual errors and have lacked the discipline necessary to win games – all of which came to the fore against Thomond on Saturday.

The County Limerick men led from start-to-finish against Omagh at Thomas Mellon Playing Fields where a Jason Kiely penalty and a Jamie McGarry try gave them an 8-0 advantage before Scott Elliott reduced the arrears to 8-3.

But the visitors responded well with Kian McGrath touched down to make it 13-3 at the break.

Facing an uphill task in the second half, Omagh seemed to have the bit between their teeth and when Connor Watherston Spencer made it 13-8 all was far from lost.

Frustratingly, Thomond were able to keep the Accies at arm’s length through a Kiely penalty before an intercept try from Scott Barr and an Elliott conversion made it a one point game.

At that stage, Omagh’s tails were up, but two yellow cards soon put an end to that impetus and when Jake Connolly crossed the Accies whitewash and Kiely converted, Thomond found themselves again with an eight point advantage but with only 17 minutes to defend it.

Once back up to a full compliment of players, Omagh mounted attack after attack but a missed penalty and plenty of pressure on the Thomond line was all they could muster, much to skipper Matthew Clyde’s frustration.

“The discipline wasn’t good and we didn’t hold onto the ball for long enough during that first half and being down to 13 men was tough, but I don’t think we conceded that many points then,” he observed.

“But you lose your whole momentum because with 13 men there’s space all over the pitch and they have a two man overlap.

“We had done well to get it back to a one point game and we had a driving maul five metres out and, I don’t know, but it looked like if it wasn’t going to be a try it was going to be a penalty try because they brought it down. But a couple of phases later they stole the ball.”

In the end, it was the visitors who held out to reclaim their place in the AIL ranks, while after eight seasons as a senior outfit Omagh were consigned to a place back amongst Ulster’s junior clubs.

And while massively-disappointed by the outcome, Clyde admits as tough as relegation is to endure, he and his team-mates will ‘regroup’ ahead of next season.

“It was a tough day,” he acknowledged. “It’s been a tough season and a tough game today, which none of the boys wanted, but you can’t fault their effort and what it means to all of us.

“We’re all gutted because none of us want to be in that position, but it is what it is.

“The club is not going to go away and we have the chance now to regroup and try to go again.

“We’ll have to rebuild, group together again, try and improve.

“That’s rugby: You have your highs and your lows unfortunately and if you look at the results throughout the season, the league table doesn’t lie.

“Obviously, the performances were nearly there, particularly during the last few games against teams at the top end of the division, and we pushed them all the way, but it’s one of those things.”