Armagh 2nd XV 0 Clogher Valley 1st XV 64

Clogher Valley warmed up for Saturday’s big All-Ireland Play-Off semi-final against Bective Rangers with a convincing 0-64 win away to Armagh 2nd XV in Junior Cup Pool D.

Skins were unlikely to make it out of the group after losing to Cooke, but coach Stephen Bothwell felt it was an important run out ahead of what he describes as “the biggest game in the club’s history”.

“The boys had two weeks off, which was nice after a hard run of games, and then we had a good run out on Saturday and we were happy to be able to work on some things for the Bective game,” said Bothwell, who acknowledged the importance of this Saturday’s tie against the side coached by former Ireland international Bernard Jackman.

“It’s the biggest game in the club’s history – that’s the way we are looking at it.

‘Relishing the challenge’

“We have been in the play-offs before but the club wouldn’t have been as strong in terms of firsts and seconds. We have a young side and the seconds are going well, and we are relishing the challenge.

“Injury-wise, we are pretty good at the minute, and you are allowed eight substitutes, so that is good for us.”

However, he is expecting a massive test.

“They are a big setpiece team. They are a big side who don’t make many mistakes and live off their opponents’ mistakes, but as I say, we are looking forward to it,” said Bothwell.

And he is hoping for a big crowd to get behind the team in their bid to make it through to the final.

“We want everybody with a green and blue jersey to be at Coolmine on Saturday and try and help push the team on,” he said.

The big games are coming thick and fast for Clogher with a Towns’ Cup semi-final against Enniskillen in Mullaghmeen on the Wednesday night, but Bothwell says that is not even in their thoughts at the minute.

“Our only focus is on the Becctive game – we won’t even look at the Towns’ Cup until after that,” he said.

The game against Armagh, while of little inportance in terms of the Junior Cup, did give Clogher an opportunity for a good run-out.

Armagh looked sharp in the first few minutes and kept control of the ball, but as soon as the Valley got an opportunity, the skill level difference was quickly demonstrated.

As the Valley put five or six phases together, you could see the Armagh defence become unstructured.

David Wilson took the pass from Matthew Bothwell, and then the most gentle pop to Tommi Coulter coming from a different angle cut the heart out of the Armagh back line, and Coulter crossed the line to open the scoring.

David Maxwell added the conversion.

Shortly after the restart, the Valley defence stopped the Armagh attack. The ball was ripped from the attackers and then spun wide into the hands of Taine Haire, who made 40 metres before he chipped the ball through for Paul Armstrong to open his scoring tally for the day.

At the next Valley attack, another try was added. The Valley worked through the phases, probing the Armagh defence, Callum Smyton came through like a bullet and there was nobody who could get their hands on him. The Valley led 17-0.

As the game entered the second quarter, the Valley started to throw the ball around as if it was a 7s competition.

Michael Treanor took the ball on and then with a gentle pop back inside, sent Ewan Haire through to score the fourth try.

David Maxwell converted and there was now a comfortable 24-0 lead after 22 minutes.

Point a minute

The Valley kept the one point a minute tally going. They pulled Armagh from one side of the pitch to the other, looking for a gap in their defence. Paul Armstrong offloaded in the tackle, David Maxwell took the ball on, and then followed his Captain’s lead, popping the ball up to Phillip Wilson, who outsprinted the Armagh winger and full back to score out wide.

Smyton was next to score, adding to his one try. From a lineout, Matthew Bothwell delayed the pass long enough to fool the Armagh defence and popped back to Callum Smyton to sprint through to score.

Maxwell added the conversion and the Valley led 36-0 after 34 minutes.

From the restart, the ball was secured, then David Maxwell burst through the tackle, making 40 metres down the pitch, then popped to Paul Armstrong to canter in the remaining 30 metres to double his try count.

Maxwell added the conversion and the Valley led 43-0 at the interval.

The second half was only a few minutes old when the score was increased again.

The Armagh outhalf chipped over the Valley defence, but he didn’t account for Phillip Wilson to read the play, collect the ball at speed and slice through the Armagh defence.

Nobody in red could even get close to him, never mind stopping him, and he added another try to his tally.

David Maxwell added the conversion for the team to reach the half century score.

And 15 minutes into the second half, a Armagh defensive lineout was secured by the home side, but then was stripped by the Valley at the next breakdown.

Neil Henderson was on hand to drive over from five metres to score the next try for the Valley. Maxwell added the conversion and the Valley led 57-0 at the 57-minute point.

The final score was to come three minutes later, when Phillip Wilson secured a high kick from Armagh.

Matthew Bothwell fired a 15-metre pass to David Maxwell, who chipped over the Armagh defensive line and Ewan Haire beat them all to the ball and scored Valley’s final try for the afternoon.

David Maxwell converted to bring the score to 64-0, then the referee called proceedings to a close 20 minutes early.

 

Start your digital subscription in our Easter sale. Enjoy your first month for just £1 and stand a chance of winning egg-citing prizes. Click here to subscribe