2nd XV hang on for valuable win

Editorial Department • Published 18 Mar 2010 12:41 0 Comments

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Dungannon 3rd XV 13; Clogher Valley 2nd XV 15;

Clogher Valley 2nd XV gained two valuable league points under the lights at Dungannon. Valley held out a determined Dungannon second half fight back to come away with a victory.

Valley opened at a frenetic pace and scored two tries and one conversion to lead 12-0 in as many minutes. James McFarland was the only "bench" player from the Towns Cup squad to play and it was he who scored the first try after a sustained period of Valley pressure involving both forwards and backs.

Half backs Ferguson and Holme were using their big runners to make inroads into Dungannon territory. Matty Robinson, Colin McKeown and the impressive Sammy Simpson were to the fore as Dungannon barely touched the ball in the first quarter. Ferguson added Valley's second try when the Dungannon defence bought an outrageous dummy to dart in at the post. Holme converted for 12-0 to the visitors.

Slowly Dungannon came back into the game and the out half darted through a gap in the Valley midfield to score a converted try. A further Dungannon penalty left the score 10-12 at half time. Holme extended Valley's lead to 10-15 with a superb strike out wide from the 10 metre line.

Valley lost the services of Robinson for 10 minutes after one too many indiscretions. The last 15 minutes were spent in Valley territory with the visitors defending doggedly. Dungannon scored another penalty to narrow the score to 13-15 and had two more opportunities to win the game but to the relief of the Valley team and supporters both attempts drifted wide.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 18 Mar 10

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