With the Irish Rugby Football Union bringing an end to the domestic season due to the escalating Covid-19 crisis, It leaves Enniskillen and Clogher Valley both having secured All Ireland Junior Cup spots for next season.

The measures brought forward by the IRFU saw current league placings standing which left Enniskillen in third place and Clogher Valley fourth in Championship Division One.

There was no promotion or relegation from any league while any unplayed cup finals are to be shared.

“Skins coach Stevie Welsh accepted that it was a decision that had to be made.

“Let’s face it, the players welfare, and the health of all their families and everyone around the club is more important than a couple of games of rugby so hopefully this all sorts itself out without too many casualties and we can get back to pre-season and build for next year,” he commented.

All in all, it has been a good season for Skins as they built on last year’s Towns’ Cup success by landing the Junior Cup with victory over City of Armagh at Kingspan Stadium at the start of January.

“We were pretty ambitious at the start of the year, the players set the goals and that was to retain the Towns’ Cup, win the Junior Cup and finish top four in the league. Unfortunately we fell short in the Towns’ Cup but two out of three is a successful season for us and one we are pleased with,” he added.

The season ended with Skins still having three games to play and Welsh admits he would like to have played them out.

“We lost the last game we played and finishing on a loss isn’t really what we wanted but what can you do in these circumstances, it is just one of those things.

“We had three games left and it was tight behind us so people are probably thinking we would have been happy with that but we would actually like to have played the games. We had a couple of home games left and it would be nice to have finished well but as I say it could not be helped,” he said.

The guaranteed third place finish though did clinch that place in the All Ireland Junior Cup and Welsh is also delighted to see Clogher finish inside the top four.

“The Ulster Branch have stated that there is no promotion or relegation in the league but the top four will stand for All Ireland Cup so us and Clogher both get through which is really good for rugby in the west of the province. It is great to see them qualify as well,” said Welsh.