Omagh 1st XV 27 Enniskillen 1st XV 6

Enniskillen’s winning start to the season came to an end of Saturday when they made their exit from the Junior Cup with a 27-6 defeat away to Omagh.
Skins have made a great start to their league campaign with wins over Clogher Valley and Portadown and a much changed side put it up to Omagh for the majority of the contest but a late flurry of scores took the sheen of an encouraging display as Omagh ran out winners to book their place in the next round.
Skins Forwards coach Stevie Walsh though found plenty of positives to take out of the game.
“We lost to a very good Omagh side but we were never out of the game until the last ten minutes. 
“The game has highlighted some areas we need to improve on. It was not ideal losing eight players going into the game but it gave us a chance to look at some young talent. Last year’s Portora boys Crawford and McCabe showed us they have what it takes to play at this level,” he said.
Skins started well with the forwards making good yards around the ruck to bring play deep into Omagh’s half, culminating with a break by Stephen Welsh just outside the 22 metre line and a crucial try saving tackle from Omagh fullback Beckett; however Enniskillen sustained pressure in the Omagh half, and came away with two successful penalties from the boot of Lendrum within five minutes to take the lead 6-0. 
Skins looked the more dominant throughout the first half with Ashley Finlay making a break from his own 22, linking in with Jamie Johnston and the returning Hazlit Brian to debutant winger Matthew Balmer who ran half the pitch, only to be once again brought down by the determined Beckett.
Despite some great work by Skins, with the line out providing good possession through Lewis McCrabbe who performed impressively in the air, Omagh were still to go in leading at the half as they exploited an overlap from a line out that ended with a score from Beckett, converted to leave the half time score 7-6 to the home side.
The second half tilted more in the home side’s favour as the back line displayed some well worked set moves. 
Slick hands from the back of the scrum saw Beckett cross again from a back line move, unconverted to go 12-6 up. 
There were good phases of battling back from the Enniskillen forwards, with Marcus Crawford carrying well off the bench, and the game remaining in the balance; however, the Omagh side proved too threatening in attack and exploited the wide channels with a clinical handling display. 
Omagh’s Mark Brown scored twice in the last 10 minutes and a final score in the dying minutes left a harsh 27-6 tally on the Enniskillen side.
The 1st XV travel away to Ballymena 2XV this weekend in the conference before returning to league fixtures the following Saturday at home to Ards.