Mr Boots Award-2013
Long standing Omagh Rugby Club member Ross Workman has been chosen as the recipient of this award by the Irish Rugby Football Union.
This prestigious annual award is open to Club volunteers throughout Ireland and recognises outstanding commitment to Junior Rugby.
Ross has given over 50years service to rugby in Omagh, firstly as a player then representing the Club on various committees at the Ulster Branch.
Ross was also an active member of the Referees society for many years and was also involved with IRFU Charitable Trust.He also act as a Steward at games at Ravenhill Grounds.
Omagh Academicals congratulate Ross on his deserved award and the Club will be hosting a presentation Dinner for family and friends plus partners in the Clubhouse on Thursday 2nd May when his award will be presented.
Many of Ross’s past and present colleagues from Omagh and throughout Irish Rugby are expected to attend and anyone wishing to attend can contact the Club Secretary,James Carberry,phone 02882 244726.
Omagh U15 lose bowl final narrowly in exciting contest
Comments (0)
Share0Tweet0
The Omagh U15 side travelled to the Mid Ulster Sports Arena in Cookstown to meet Newry U15 in the final of the bowl competition
Ulster Carpets Under 15 Bowl Final
Omagh U15 (22) v Newry U15 (29) April 20, 2013
The Omagh U15 side travelled to the Mid Ulster Sports Arena in Cookstown to meet Newry U15 in the final of the bowl competition. Omagh were in confident form having easily defeated Ophir in the semi final and had a useful training session in mid week. It was a fine day for rugby, and on an artificial playing surface, conditions were perfect for some entertaining rugby.
Newry kicked off against the breeze and immediately took advantage of some confusion in the Omagh line up (several players had to be placed in unfamiliar positions) to run in a try under the posts from their first possession, helped by some poor defence from the Omagh side. This left Newry 7-0 ahead after only a few minutes. From the restart however, Omagh’s forwards showed great cohesion to pick and drive with James Rutledge and Phillip Ewing making huge yardage, supported by Michael O’Neill and Ryan McNamee – the ball was recycled several times before Andrew Hall scored easily in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed. The strong Newry backs were getting plenty of possession and their number 10 was their danger man – however the Omagh backline defence, despite the initial set back early on, was to be one of the highlights of the season – Nathan Cummings, Leon Clarke and Andrew Hall were disrupting Newry’s attacks, and the back three of Luke Murnaghan , Jason Adams and Aaron Jeffrey dealt with any kicks coming their way However the 3G playing surface often made the ball bounce unpredictably and it proved awkward for the back three to deal with the ball. The game was now more even, but Reece Stewart, who was providing swift passes from scrum half was unfortunate to have a kick charged down for Newry to regain the lead and make it 12-5 with an unconverted try. It looked as if the player was offside but unfortunately this went unnoticed by the officials.
Again some excellent play by the pack, with James Rutledge making some great charges and beating numerous players, ably supported by Jamie Rainey, put Omagh on the offensive but the occasional loose pass or knock on, or a fifty call going against them, meant Omagh couldn’t close the gap. Newry capitalised on their good fortune and scored a further 2 tries to make the half time score 24-5 in their favour.
Omagh turned round against the wind and it would require the pack (and the backs) to keep the ball in hand and recycle possession to have any chance of coming back. To their credit the Omagh team produced what was to be one of the most exciting and spirited performances from any Omagh side in a long time.
Wave after wave of Omagh possession was to follow with Jack Rainey now on for McNamee to the fore – Rutledge was unstoppable and even the Omagh backs were joining in the drives with Andrew Hall now looking more like a flanker. From their own half Omagh produced drive after drive before Rutledge crashed over for a try. For the next 20 minutes it was all Omagh and another drive with numerous phases put them back in the Newry half. The ball was cleared out by the impressive Stephen Gibson who used his power to help Darryl Allen score close in which Hall converted to make the score 24-17 to Newry. The Newry side were flagging as they made several changes – this was to no avail and they seemed to lose their shape as the Omagh pack continued to dominate up front. From a maul near half way Michael O’Neill emerged with the ball and showed impressive pace to run in a try whilst outpacing the defence – unfortunately he was unable to make the kick any easier for Hall by getting closer to the posts and the difficult conversion into the wind was missed.
With time running out it seemed inevitable that Omagh would gain the upper hand as they again powered forward – O’Neill, Ewing and the Rainey brothers doing the hard graft to allow Rutledge to show his pace and strength. Several times it was only the final pass that stopped Omagh achieving an amazing comeback. Against the run of play and in the dying seconds, a cruel bounce of the ball meant Newry sneaked a try in the corner to end the contest. Newry had held on to win 29-22.
All in all this was great game to watch with some high quality rugby backed up with immense spirit and commitment, especially from the Omagh side. Despite going down in the end, several of the Omagh players have been picked out by the watching Ulster development coaches to attend the upcoming training sessions.
Omagh Team:
Jack Wilson, Phillip Ewing, Stephen Gibson, Jamie Rainey, Jack Rainey, Darryl Allen, Michael O’Neill, Ryan McNamee, James Rutledge, Reece Stewart, Nathan Cummings, Jason Adams, Andrew Hall, Leon Clark, Aaron Jeffrey, Luke Murnaghan
