Clogher Valley 1st XV 24 Cooke 1st XV 22

 

Clogher Valley withstood a late Cooke rally to secure the points at The Cran on Saturday.
Leading 24-10 midway through the second half, Valley appeared to be easing to the win but Cooke fought back and would have had a share of the spoils only for a missed late conversion.
“Cooke had shown a bit of form recently but we were in total control but we took our foot of the pedal and a couple of missed tackles let them back into the game. It left a nervy finish for us but I think overall we deserved the win,” said Clogher joint coach Davy Black.
The match started dramatically after a break out of their own half by Cooke gain momentum and, with some passive Valley tackling, the visitors proceeded to score a try under the posts. The try was converted to give Cooke a 7-0 leave after three minutes.
The concession of a soft try was enough to galvanise Valley into action and the pressure from the home side was to produce dividends on 19 minutes when Trotter goaled a well-struck penalty from 35 metres out.
This seemed to settle the Valley and they were soon dominating territory and possession. A lineout deep in the Cooke 22 saw the Valley pack maul the ball in-field. With the Cooke defence spilt it was Trotter who made the decisive break on the bind side to score Valley’s opening try. Trotter added an excellent conversion to see Valley leading 10-7 after 24 minutes.
Valley continued to dominate the possession and press the Cooke defence. As with the previous week, however, Valley failed to convert possession into points. It was not until just before half-time that Valley scored their second try after Ryan Wilson barged over from a scrum close to the posts. 
Trotter added the conversion to see Valley leading 17-7 at half-time.
The second half saw the young Cooke side seek to up the pace of the game. The deficit was reduced to 17-10 after 44 minutes when Cooke goaled a penalty. Another penalty opportunity four minutes later was missed by Cooke.
A fine break by Trenier on the left regained the initiative for the Valley on 63 minutes. With the Cooke defence in disarray their full back conceded a penalty and was yellow carded. From the subsequent penalty Valley chose to scrum and, after a series of collapses with the home side in the offensive, the referee awarded a penalty try. Trotter added the conversion to give Valley a 24-10 lead.
Rather than kick on from here, poor tackling and ball retention by the Valley conspired to produce a nervy closing quarter for the home side. First, a pick and go by the Valley pack inside their own 22 was turned over and Cooke proceeded to waltz through some half-hearted tackling to score their second try on 67 minutes. A fine conversion reduced the Valley lead to 24-17.
At this stage Cooke were on the offensive and it was only after committed tackles by Agnew and Trenier in particular that more tries were not conceded. The Cooke pressure did however lead to a grandstand finish when a well-worked passage of play, aided again by poor Valley tackling, saw Cooke score their third try on 76 minutes. The conversion was missed to leave it 24-22 which is how it finished.
While the win keeps Valley in contention for league and top four honours the performance will again be something that the coaches will work on as they prepare for their second round Towns’ Cup match away at Armagh 2nd XV on Saturday with Black expecting a tough test.
“Armagh beat Bangor last year so they will be targeting the competition. 
“We’re expecting it to be a tight, competitive game,” he added.