Clogher Valley will have to come through an away tie against Ballymena 2nd XV if they are to make it through to the final of this year’s Powerade Towns’ Cup.

Clogher recorded a 31-10 victory away to Coleraine on Saturday and this was followed by the draw for the semi-final on Monday with the winners of Clogher’s encounter with Ballymena 2nds to face either Ballynahinch 2nds or Donaghadee.

Coach Davy Black had been hoping for a home draw in the semi-final and feels that Ballymena 2nds will go into the game as favourites. However, after missing out on the final last season, Black is keen to make it back to Ravenhill.

“At the semi-final stage, you would love a home draw but unfortunately it didn’t materialise. Ballymena 2nds got a brilliant result against Ballymoney beating them 39-12 and it will be a tough match for us,” he said. “We’re probably going into the semi-final as underdogs. We missed out last year so it would be good to get back to Ravenhill for the big occasion”.

Despite winning 31-10 on Saturday, Black stresses that it is going to take an improved performance by his side if they are to make the decider.

“We weren’t firing on all cylinders on Saturday. We made a lot of mistakes so we will need to work hard at training in the next few weeks and improve before the semi-final,” he commented.

Clogher played against a strong breeze in the first half of their encounter with Coleraine but made some great runs into their opponents half. And the pressure finally paid off with David Sharkey going over the line for a try after great rucking by the pack and with Holme adding a conversion it was the Valley who had the early advantage as they led 7-0 after four minutes.

Coleraine maintained possession after this but they made little headway against the Valley defence who were tackling well. However, after 15 minutes Coleraine drove into the Valley half and forced a penalty with Valley not releasing. The Coleraine outhalf converted leaving it 7–3.

Valley though lifted their game, producing a good passage of play, but good defending by Coleraine prevented a number of tries.

On the 30 minute mark Clogher were penalized for not rolling away giving Coleraine a penalty which was too far out to kick, they opted for a line out keeping pressure on the Valley line.

Clogher easily absorbed the spirited Coleraine attacks though and progressed up the field again forcing Coleraine into their own half where they conceded a penalty for not rolling away. This was successfully kicked by Holme allowing Valley to take a 10-3 lead at half time.

The second half began with Valley having a lot of possession and good ball retention by the pack allowed PC Falconer to cross over for a try which was successfully converted by Holme increasing the advantage to 17-3.

Valley relaxed and missed a lot of tackles in open play allowing the Coleraine outhalf, Bokkie Carstens, to score a try which he then successfully converted to put the home side right back in contention at 17-10.

However, Valley raised their game and a burst of speed from Davey Dunlop and kicking on by Paul Armstrong over the line, left Dunlop touching down for an excellent try after 65 minutes which was again successfully converted by Holme.

Coleraine came back once more and nearly scored in the corner but good defending by Holme put the number 10 into touch before the strong Valley line out enabled them to clear their lines.

And Valley were to add another try when Sterling work by the front row and the back row unleashed Dunlop on one of his slicing runs and he off loaded to Todd who scored under the posts with Holme converting to give Valley a 31-10 lead.

This was a good team performance by Clogher as they secured a semi final place in the Towns Cup. It was a difficult game, as cup games often are, with Coleraine always in the fight.

And Clogher have to do it all again, at Coleraine, in the league next week.