Clogher Valley: Bothwell delighted with easy win

Cregg RFC was a similar team to the Valley, young, agile, fast, playing the same style of rugby making for a good game of rugby but the Valley never looked back after taking a 14-0 lead at the break.

The Galway side rallied after the break with eight unanswered points but that only sparked the Valley into life and the crashed over for three tries to make it 33-8 at the final whistle.

With all four Ulster sides winning and in the last eight, the draw is eagerly awaited.

It was another win for unbeaten Clogher and their coach, Stephen Bothwell, was pleased with the win and the players who stepped in for the game.

“A couple of boys are carrying knocks and we decided to rest them so it was nice.

“Things went according to plan. I didn’t see much change in our shape which was really good.

“It was nice to give other boys opportunities and get through the match comfortably

“The start was probably a bit of nerves and playing a different team. But we got two scores and relaxed a bit and in the second half, we played really well.”

The home side was dealt a blow, after 10 minutes when Calum Smyton was forced to leave the field with an injury, to be replaced by the experienced David Sharkey.

The Valley dominated the scrums, and this was where the first score came from. A five metre scrum was driven over and scrum half Michael Bothwell was on hand to touch down, converted by David Maxwell.

It was the scrum that provided the platform for the second try as well.

The scrum 10 metres out, drove forward five metres, as it splintered, David Sharkey picked up and drove closer to the line, Michael Treanor took over and made a few more inches, followed by Aaron Crawford, before Bothwell spread it to David Maxwell who touched down to score Valley’s second. He converted his own try to give the home side a 14-0 lead.

The interval followed shortly after and all looked good for the home side.

Visitors fight back

It was however the visitors who were to come out fighting.

Several penalties put the Valley in their own 22 and with a two player overlap, the visitors scored in the corner.

Another penalty was converted to leave the score 14-8.

This kicked the Valley into life and as always, the large crowd expect the fireworks to start in the second half. The Valley team did not disappoint.

Despite the weather conditions deteriorating, and the visibility dropping requiring the lights to be switched on, the Valley started to run the ball from all parts of the pitch.

Opting for scrums at penalties, the Valley kept Cregg pinned in the corner, eventually the pressure told with David Stinson driving over to add a third try for the home side. Maxwell converted and the lead was stretched to 13 points.

On the hour mark, a series of pick and go, pulled holes in the Cregg defence. It was Michael Treanor who reacted the quickest, spotting a gap, he casually lifted the ball from the ruck, side stepped his way through the defence and scored under the posts. With the conversion from Maxwell, the fight was knocked out of the visitors at 28-8.

Neill Trotter replaced Michael Bothwell at scrum half, but it was business as normal for this team. A series of pick and go close to the Cregg line splintered the defence, Neill Trotter dummied then delayed the pass, fixing two defenders, creating the space for David Maxwell to add another try to his tally, Valley’s fifth of the day.

By now the competitive match was long over, Cregg hung in and fought on, ensuring the flood gates did not open, unlike the clouds, which dropped everything including the kitchen sink in the last 10 minutes of the match.

At the final whistle, the Valley were through to the quarter-final in convincing fashion by a scoreline of 33-8.

With a quarter final tie in a couple weeks, Bothwell knows the importance of a home tie again: “The draw was good to us with a home game at the start.

“The draw is a big thing. It’s going to be a lot more difficult for a team to travel,” he added.