Manager Stephen Bothwell will lead Clogher Valley into their first All-Ireland League Division 2B campaign on Saturday.
The club sealed a historic promotion place at the end of last season alongside a first-ever Bank of Ireland Senior Shield.
Clogher had two games in preparation for the weekend’s league opener. They lost to Belfast Harlequins before winning a local derby encounter over Omagh Accies.
Speaking on those two games and ahead of their first game in 2B against Belfast side Malone, Both well said: “The first game, I thought we done a lot of things right, I thought we improved a lot against Omagh on Saturday but it’s still early in the season, so, we need to keep working hard and get more improvement.
"I feel this year will be a stiffer challenge, obviously going up, it will be a bigger challenge since stepping from Junior to Senior, with this league a lot of teams have pushed on. Dungannon has maybe six new players, Malone has definitely bolstered, Rainey have as well.
"All those teams that were in that league last year are definitely better. We’re really excited to go into the challenge of 2B.
"Malone, coming down from 2A, will be looking to steady their ship and we’ll be looking to get off to a good start as well, so, it will be interesting.
"We’ve never played Malone firsts before, it’s definitely new territory for us. They’ll have boys that have played a lot higher up, they’ve dropped season on season, I think they were in 1B and 2A last year and dropped again. They’ve brought players in to steady that and will have good, experienced players.
"It will be important to start off with a good performance and know we’re able to compete in that environment and get our feet under us. I’m really excited for the challenge and I know the boys are too, we played some good rugby against Omagh, so, it will be important just to get better and add a few things in as well.
"The first block is really tough with Malone and then Wanderers away, and Wanderers then at home. They were in the title push last year and there’s Galwegians as well, we know them from last year.
"There is no easy fixtures, every team is in the same boat. I'm really excited and nervous for the challenge.”
It will be a day to remember for the Valley as they have gone from strength to strength since Bothwell took over climbing the All-Ireland League ladder.
However, he is adamant Clogher aren’t there just to make up the numbers but realises there will be tough challenges ahead: “It hasn’t changed so I first came in as coach six years ago.
"Obviously, the performances are harder to put together because you have bigger and more physical teams coming up against you and they are trying to negate you from playing well.
"That is our first challenge, trying to get a performance in, and keeping a bit of ball, trying to apply our gameplan on them. That’s the challenge week in week out, when you play better teams that is more difficult. You're going up for a reason and that’s to challenge yourself against better teams.
"The teams are better conditioned, they’re big fellas but they’re fit fellas too. I’m always a bit nervous but I just want to see if we can compete and we just have to be cuter about our own size.
"We have to be smart about what we’re capable of.”
Bothwell explained that he used to look up to teams like Malone when he was a player and described it almost like a pinch-me moment that he will now watch his side compete against them.
It’s fair to say Clogher are a team on the up and have the full backing of their supporters: “We had a good week last week, we opened a new outdoor bar, there was a great buzz about the place, you couldn’t have done it on a better day, in terms of weather.
"We had the game, a local derby. The club is buzzing to enter 2B, all with a bit of trepidation, it’s new ground, it will be very interesting.
"We just have to go at it really hard, we’ll get our training sessions in and go at it hard on Saturday. It’s hard to believe.
"When I was growing up myself and playing, your big teams were Dungannon, Malone and Ballymena and now we’re playing two of them in this league, it’s hard to believe we’re there and playing against these big teams, but we’re there and we have to get on with it.”
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