Enniskillen pulled off a shock result in the semi-final of the Powerade Towns’ Cup to defeat neighbours Clogher Valley 8-6 and progress to the Towns’ Cup final. The narrow victory came after a tightly contested encounter, but Enniskillen coach Norman Richmond had no doubt that the better team on the day emerged victorious.
“We definitely deserved to win. There is no doubt about that in my mind. Performance wise we were the best team on the day,” he said. “We played what was in front of us, which was the most important part, and took our chances when we had to. We would have liked to play at their end of the park a bit more often but we continued to knock them back and cause them issues. Clogher Valley has always traditionally been strong in the scrum and the line out and we were able to nullify that throughout the game. Both teams fought right to the end and the last part of the match was played down near their try line which was the right area for us, but the final whistle was a welcome relief. It was a massive day for the club and an absolute highlight for the season.”
Clogher Valley coach David Black had gone into the game confident his Qualifying League One side could add another Towns’ Cup final appearance to their impressive recent record in the competition, but at the final whistle he had no complaints about the final outcome.
“We didn’t deserve it,” he admitted. “We might have edged the possession a bit but at the breakdown I thought Enniskillen were hungrier, they fought harder and were prepared to put their bodies in where we maybe didn’t. Set pieces were fifty fifty and it was always going to come down to who wanted it the most and who was prepared to sacrifice their bodies more. It wasn’t a great spectacle of open rugby, but you probably get that in derby games. You have to be gracious in defeat and credit them for putting their heart on their sleeve on Saturday and really going at it. To be honest I thought Enniskillen where that wee bit hungrier on the ground and wanted it that wee bit more.”
David know has to focus the attention of his team back to the league, and he believes the semi-final defeat will have no lasting impact on their form. “You don’t become a bad team because of a semi-final defeat,” he said. “We have been at the top long enough, but staying at the top is always the hardest and we have seen that with a lot of big teams. We will be ok. We will keep our heads down and keep working hard.”
In contrast, Enniskillen are still fighting in league and cup and Norman Richmond admits the cup final against Bangor will be a massive day for both players and supporters. “We have to take that place in the final and make our own history when we get there,” he said. “Bangor are a very good team. They are second in Qualifying One and I think they have only been beaten twice so we have to go out and play well and take our chances. The teams that we have had to play to get to the final include two all-Ireland second fifteens, Ballynahinch who won it last year and Rainey seconds are an all-Ireland club, so we have had to play some tough games to get there and we deserve our place in the final. Everybody is looking forward to it around the club.”