Valley preparing for tough final derby warm-up

HOSTING their nearest neighbours Enniskillen for a vital Ulster Championship Division One clash is usually something for Clogher Valley to look forward to.

Today, however, the fixture has so much more riding on it than just local bragging rights.

Clogher need to win and most likely, need a try scoring bonus point too if they are to retain their solitary one point lead over Ballyclare at the top of the table.

While they want to achieve that for the title aspirations, they also hope to lay down a marker and retain a fully fit squad for a huge game a week later when they will again take on Enniskillen, but this time at Ulster Rugby HQ in Belfast in the All-Ireland Junior Cup decider. Twelve months earlier, Clogher defeated Ballyclare at Kingspan Stadium to win the coveted trophy for the first time in their history and they will be in no mood to let go of the trophy in 2023, especially against their Fermanagh neighbours.

And while the final is firmly in everyone’s minds just a fortnight out, Valley head coach, Stephen Bothwell will try to push those thoughts to the background this week ahead of what he believes will be a very physical derby clash.

“We’re trying to win the game and if we can get the bonus point it is what it is, but we’ll not get ahead of ourselves,” he explained.

“I know they are going to come and target boys for the following week, to unsettle them, so it will just be very important that we stay really focused on our job and what we can do.

“We will focus on what we can do well, prepare the best we can and try to get a win before we move on to Kingspan, But first things first, we’re not even thinking about Kingspan yet, which is very hard because everyone’s mentioning it, but this is about trying to get a win at home next week to keep the pressure on Ballyclare as they did by keeping the pressure on us.

“It’s a really tricky one for us next week because I know they will come at us hammer and tongs and they have some good players, who I would have coached at the school and who would be good friends with some of our boys, so it’s going to be interesting!

“And the weather is a real leveller, so we’ll have to take it and see how we go.”

Clogher continued their assault on the division one crown on Saturday past with an emphatic 33-0 win at Dromore, thanks to tries from David Maxwell, who also kicked four conversions, Callum Smyton, Taine Haire, David Sharkey and Paul Armstrong.

That result was particularly pleasing for Bothwell as Barban Hill was seen as a tricky destination for Valley, especially after Dromore pushed Ballyclare so close there just before Christmas.

“I’m delighted because I knew the bad weather was going to kick in, making things even more difficult, so I was delighted to get the bonus point wrapped up in about 30 minutes,” Bothwell beamed.

“There was a hunger in us from the start of the game, which was great to see, the boys had a great desire to get scores, although we had the advantage of the wind in the first half and we had to make use of it.”