Enniskillen and Clogher Valley shared the points in the first Kukri Qualifying one league game of the season, but both coaches were left to regret missed opportunities in a game that could have swung either way.
Enniskillen Coach Stevie Welsh saw his side lead before Clogher levelled the scores in the closing minutes, and he felt his side had shown enough over the course of the game to take the victory. 
“I think we deserved to win it,” he said. “We played most of the rugby and outscored them in tries. We started quite well and controlled the game, and then conceded two freak tries by them. A really strange one and then an intercept that could have seen Mark O’Shea or Alex Parke go under the posts for us, so that was almost a 14 point swing. 
“The boys did well to come back into the game, but there were too many penalties and we let Clogher back into it. The three points isn’t the worst but it is a bit of a bitter taste.”
Despite not taking the win, he was happy to see flashes of quality rugby this early in the campaign. 
“Whenever we started to play, we looked good and showed glimpses of what we can be,” he said. “There is definitely more positives than negatives in the way we played and you could see the hard work they had put in in pre-season came out. I think we were fitter than Clogher, and definitely that’s the way I want them to play, they are showing they can play that way.”
Enniskillen now face Dromore, and Welsh is expecting a tough test against a side that racked up 50 points in their first league game. 
“It is a tough one,” he admitted. “I think that Dromore are probably the best team in our league, even though they finished third last year. I do think when they play they are hard to stop, but hopefully we will put in a full 80 minute display as opposed to little first half glimpses. We will need it against a team like that.”
It was Clogher Valley’s first game in Division One since their promotion last season, and coach Stephen Bothwell felt they had a chance to start their season with a win. 
“It was frustrating because we could have taken them,” he said. “Overall the way we played I was happy enough with the draw, but in the last 25 minutes we were encamped on the Enniskillen line. They were giving us opportunities to take the game and we couldn’t do it. Not that I think we deserved it but it was there for the taking. 
“We made too many errors to win the game. I thought it was a swap around from the cup semi final. Then we played the better rugby and lost, and this time they played the better rugby and only got a draw. It was a game of two halves. They played better in the first half but we outscored them. They outscored us in the second half but we probably played better. It was a funny old game.”
Clogher face a trip to Ballyclare this weekend, and Bothwell thinks there is better to come from his team. 
“It is a good sign when you don’t play to your best and still get away with a result,” he said. 
“I would be hoping that we would be playing better than that later on in the season. We know we have to play more rugby than Enniskillen to beat them. They move the ball less and have less mistakes to make, whereas we have to play more rugby to beat them with our lighter pack, but we didn’t get going. There is loads of stuff for us to work on, and we know where we are.”