Valley girls hoping to complete first part of double

SATURDAY could be a red letter day in the history of Clogher Valley Rugby Club as both the men’s first XV and ladies team go for glory on opposite sides of the country.

While the men are aiming to win the Energia All-Ireland League 2C title at home against Ballina, their female counterparts are travelling to Belfast where they will tackle Banbridge in the Suzanne Fleming Cup final at Kingspan.

It’s been quite the debut competitive season for the Clogher women, who have gone from relative rookies to title-winning candidates under the stewardship of Richard Haire, who has been the driving force behind their development over the last two years.

They are on the brink of winning the Ulster Championship B league title – they only have to beat Lurgan in their final fixture – and are one victory from picking up their first ever piece of silverware at Ulster Rugby HQ.

And for team coach Davy Black, who guided the men’s first XV to their first golden era during which they won Towns Cups, Junior Cups, Ulster Qualifying League One titles and reached the All-Ireland Junior Cup final, believes their success is all down to the players.

After leaving the men’s first XV hot seat at the Cran, Black enjoyed a four year spell at Cavan RFC, which he transformed from a club in disarray to cup finalists, and since he returned to Fivemiletown after accepting an invitation from women’s head coach Richard Haire in the summer, the pair have turned the Clogher ladies into a well-drilled winning team.

The side’s development has been swift and impressive and their two fixtures against Lisburn – a 64-5 pre-season friendly defeat and a 47-5 victory in the first round of the cup – during this campaign are conclusive evidence to the rapid improvement they have made.

“It’s massively down to the girls because it’s about their want and desire,” Black observed. “Ultimately, you could have Andy Farrell standing there but if the girls don’t turn out and don’t want to be coached, don’t want to learn and don’t buy into it it won’t matter who is standing there.

“So, for me, I can guide them but ultimately the girls have done this themselves with their hard work and determination, so credit to them because they have worked so, so hard and they have earned the right to be where they are and in the position they are with potentially a league and cup double if all goes according to plan.

“They have put in the hard yards and the hard work, so hopefully they get the just rewards.”

As well as dispatching Lisburn in the first round, Clogher have overcome Championship A winners, Cooke, 34-0 and in the semi-final they produced a dramatic late show to oust their Championship B title rivals Virginia to set up a decider against Banbridge, who are third in the division above.

And while Black anticipates some Kingspan nerves, he has confidence in his players’ ability to overcome those and deliver another performance of note.

“If we win the cup, we’ll have beaten first, second and third in the league above us en route, so [Banbridge] will put no fear in us but it will certainly not put any complacency in us because they are in a league above us for a reason so we have to respect that,” he explained.

“We will be going in as underdogs because we are going in against a team from the league above us, so it’s up to us to concentrate on our game, get our gameplan right and hopefully that’s good enough.

“I’ve been [to Kingspan] many times and as a coach I can only set them up, on the field they have to do it. I have a few girls that would be experienced and played the odd game at Ravenhill. The rest of them are fairly new, some of them have come from a Gaelic background so they would have played in fairly big cup finals with their respective clubs.

“They know what sports about and that it’s on the day, but absolutely there will be nerves and if you want to win you need nerves. But it’s about how we over-ride those nerves quickly and get settled into our patterns and play our rugby.”

And if the Valley girls manage to complete the first part of their potential double at Kingspan, Black feels that the achievement will be right up there with all the success he enjoyed with the men’s team.

“I’ve won all those trophies and it’s been brilliant,” he admitted. “I have memories I’ll never forget but to comeback to my own club to coach the women and turn players, some of whom didn’t know what a ruck was, didn’t know how to tackle, and to turn that around and bring them to the top of the league and to the final is absolutely amazing.

“I’m delighted with them and it ranks right up there with any of them. To see the buzz that the girls have created around the club on matchdays is unreal, the effort they have put in and the fact they have created their own identity within the club – they have really stood up and made people take note.”

Kick-off at Kingspan Stadium for the Suzanne Fleming Cup final between Clogher Valley and Banbridge is 2.30pm.