Enniskillen Head Coach Stevie Welsh accepted that Clogher’s dominance in the scrum was the decisive factor in Saturday’s All-Ireland Junior Cup Final at Kingspan Stadium.

Skins struggled throughout with the Clogher scrum and Welsh believes that was the winning of the game for the Valley.

“I think that was the difference – the scrum. Line-outs were pretty even but they controlled the scrum and that’s what won the game.

“Every scrum, they just put pressure on, and you can’t do much without the ball. If the scrum had matched up a bit better, we would have had more launching pads to go from.

“I think that’s what won the game, and it’s hard to take,” said Welsh, who was disappointed with the way the game panned out.

“We are gutted, and I feel for the boys – they put a lot of work into it.

“It is just one of those things; only one team can win, and Clogher were just a wee bit better on the night,” he admitted.

Clogher put Skins under serious pressure in the opening quarter of the contest, and although they defended manfully, it was inevitable that the Valley would make the breakthrough eventually.

“It was not exactly what we wanted. Straight from the kick-off they challenged and just put a lot of pressure on us.

“We were fairly comfortable, but you can’t have a game with 60 or 70 per cent territory and possession to the other team; it is not going to work out for you.

“They threw a lot at us and we kept knocking them back, but you can only do that for so long,” said Welsh.

Clogher moved into a 10-0 lead but given their dominance of the ball, that should have been greater, and when Eddie Keys kicked two penalties for Skins it brought them back into the game by half time.

“I think we had the ball for about five minutes in the first half, so a penalty and try wasn’t much for all the ball they had.

“The two penalties ... I think it was the right decision to take the points, and 10-6 for all their possession; we were happy enough at half time.”

Welsh knew that the first score of the second half would be vital, but it went the way of Clogher, who again took a foothold in the contest to move into a 22-6 lead.

“The message at half time was to get the next score, but unfortunately Clogher also got the same message, and came out pretty sharp and caught us cold. They nicked that, and then you are looking at the scoreboard, but in fairness the boys kept at it the whole game,” he said.

Skins did come on strong in the final quarter and two tries gave them hope as they closed to within seven points as the game moved into added-on time. But it was not to be, as Clogher intercepted a pass to score in the corner and seal the win.

“We know we are good with ball-in-hand, and we actually got a bit, which was good. We made as many line breaks as they did, even though they had a lot more ball, and it was good to get to the maul and get those tries.

“It gave us a glimmer of hope and the boys were just pushing it at the end, and maybe we needed to be a wee bit calmer, but that’s the way it goes,” he said.

Enniskillen will have to put the defeat quickly behind them as they have plenty still to play for over the remainder of the season.

They have five big league games to come as they look to make a late push for the top four, while there is also a Towns’ Cup quarter final to look forward to.

“It is going to be tight now; we have five games in three weeks in the league, and then into a quarter final of the Towns Cup.

“We have City of Derry away this week, and it is important to get the points this week as they are sitting above us.

“It is easy to say you have games in hand, but you want the points on the board. It will be tight, and it isn’t an easy place to go to, but the boys just want to get back on to the pitch,” he added.