Sat 9th Nov, 11:00am. Clogher Valley RFC 5 – 15 Ards RFC
U17’s show their mettle on the road to go top
by Alan McHugh
U17’s take their record for the season to 7&1 with a hard fought win at Clogher Valley RFC
To quote Kyle Reese in The Terminator, ” Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are finished.”
The U17’s heard the starting whistle at Clogher Valley after a long road trip with some reservations. Shorn of 9 players through injury and unavailability, the three-quarter line had 2 flankers and 2 U15 players called up and to cap it all, influential hooker Danny McCullough suffered a shoulder injury in warm up and had to withdraw.
Clogher fielded a pack equal in size to the Ardsmen – quite an unusual feat – and proceeded to throw themselves at the Ards defensive line like Kamikaze pilots from the off, obviously used to bullying their opposite numbers. A well placed kick from their out half put them deep into Ards territory and a series of drives earned the home side a deserved but unconverted try within 5 minutes. Straight after the restart, they repeated the dose, but this time the Ards try line defence held fast, turned the ball over and cleared their lines.
For the first time this season this Ards team found itself behind and didn’t much like it. Fighting hard to retain possession though was a heavy challenge for either side, with the pitch a bottomless divoted bog and a virtual monsoon in progress throughout. The half ended at 5-0 with Ards starting to dominate territory and the ref’s whistle needing a new pea.
Steeled by words of encouragement at half time from the coaching team, the Ards youngsters started to press. The pack in black was now dominating 1st phase, allowing fly half Depledge’s cultured boot to put the ball in the right place. From one such episode, turnover ball from a lineout in the Clogher 22 was quickly switched to 10 and found inside centre Cameron McKee on a perfect line to ghost past several defenders and score under the posts. Conversion by Joel DePledge took Ards into the lead at 5-7.
With the Ards pack now dominant, Clogher rested their hooker after 3 losses against the head and scrums went uncontested. Ards defensive line out was in fine fettle too and Clogher switched to tap and go instead of kicking to touch. As a result, Ards territorial advantage was becoming marked.
Pushing again into the Clogher half, the Ards three-quarter line was held back continuously, but eventually, a missing pillar on the blind side was spotted by scrum half Adam Carroll and he scurried up the line to score, taking 2 tacklers and the corner flag with him. The touchline conversion was narrowly missed and the score increased to 5-12.
Ards immediately found themselves back in the same part of the pitch and a further close incursion by scrum half Carroll was unluckily knocked on in the act of scoring. Entering the last quarter, Clogher’s discipline began to crumble and the referee was only too happy to keep walking towards their posts. With 10 minutes left, fly half DePledge slotted one such penalty from 45 metres with plenty to spare, Ards’ lead increased to 5-15 and the all important 2 score lead.
With nothing to lose, Clogher threw all they had at the Ards defence, but it isnt the meanest in the league for nothing and held up without straining. The welcome final whistle was deservedly celebrated and triggered plenty of singing in the changing rooms and on the coach home.
We have made a point not to single out a Man Of The Match this season. The success we have enjoyed is collectively earned and collectively praised. So, well done all Ardsmen. Clogher Valley is a hard place to take the points and you deserved every one of them.
Thanks to Clogher for a hard and honest game and great coffee!
