A large crowd turned up at the Cran for this eagerly awaited Local Derby Towns Cup Quarter Final. Unfortunately the Clogher Valley team didn’t turn up for the first half and the much more committed and determined Omagh team raced into an 0 – 11 lead which they held up to half time. A litany of basic errors,poor tackling and decision making allowed Omagh to get on the front foot from the start and Valley were always trying to play catch-up rugby. Omagh dominated the early possession and territory and forced a lineout in the Valley 22. The visitors stole the Valley throw and rumbled over the Valley line for the opening score after five minutes. The conversion was missed but a penalty after fifteen minutes extended the Omagh lead to 0 -8
Valley simply could not put any meaningful phases together and any time they did get into striking distance, they were penalised or the ball was knocked on or turned over .The Valley forwards could not come to terms with the interpretation or policing of the breakdown area and the penalty count was far too high to be able to manufacture any scoring opportunities. James McFarland was yellow-carded just before the interval and Omagh extended their lead to 0 – 11.
A determined Valley came out for the second half and proceeded to dominate territory and possession . It was Omagh’s turn to incur the wrath of the referee and Paul Armstrong kicked three penalties in the 2nd,7th and 12th minutes to bring Valley right back into contention. The rest of the game was played in the Omagh half as Valley battered the heroic visiting defence to no avail. Best was wide with an attempted drop goal as the clock ticked away.Try as they might Valley could not get the decisive score as the Omagh defenders continually put their bodies on the line. Armstrong was just short with an injury-time penalty and the final whistle ended Valley’s hopes of a hat-trick of Towns Cup wins.
League action continues on Saturday with the difficult away trip to resurgent Donaghadee.
