Sat 7th Dec, 2:30pm. Kukri Qualifying 1.
Clogher Valley 45 – 6 Cooke
Valley warmed up for the All-Ireland Junior Semi Final at Skibbereen next week with an emphatic, and more importantly, injury free victory against Cooke.
It took Valley ten minutes to impose some structure on this game. But when they did they quickly scored. A midfield drive saw Bennett burst through the centre and the move was then carried on by a supporting Treanor, (who had a fine game throughout). When the ball was recycled to the blind side Donaldson was in the clear to score Valleys first try, converted by Holme. Valley took another four minutes to add to their score when prop, and man of the match, McAleer was driven over for another converted try and a 14-0 lead.
Cooke responded well and reduced the deficit with two penalties by the 27th minute but McAleer added another converted try with a fine individual twenty metres break from a line out for Valley after 35 minutes to leave the home side leading 21-6 at half time.
Within five minutes of the restart Valley had their try bonus point when Sharkey dived over from the base of a scrum. Holme again added the extra points.
Cooke were struggling to contain the Valley side and were not helped when both their No10 and No15 were injured. Valley took full advantage and added to their total with tries from Armstrong, Sharkey, again, and Holme at regular intervals to run out easy winners at 45-6.
So Valley remain top of the league one point ahead of Portadown. However with results elsewhere going in their favour both extended the gap over the chasing 3rd and 4th places.
Valley 2nds also beat Cooke 17-9 in their league to complete the “double”.
Valley Girls go unbeaten at tag competition
Clogher Valley’s U15 ladies tag team went unbeaten at the rugby competition in Armagh over the weekend. Pictures from the game are now on the website
CLICK HERE for them
Teams from Clogher Valley, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Letterkenny and hosts Armagh played a series of matches in an U15 competition. This was the Valley’s 2nd outing to these competitions having only been training together for 2 months. After dispatching Dungannon with ease, they took on a strong Enniskillen team . This proved a much stiffer opponent, with the match finishing in a 2 try draw. Next up was Armagh, which seen the Valley team run home 4 tries against their hosts. The final match against Letterkenny, resulted in another victory for the Valley side by 3 tries to 1. The improvement is the team organisation and awareness was clearly evident with fantastic support play throughout. Surging runs from Ellie Ingram, Chloe Eagleson, Jenna Wright and Emma Hoey caused the opposition defence many problems. The team are now taking a break over the Christmas period, but will resume training on a Friday 3rd Jan 14, at 6-7pm.
U17 win in Cup at Newry
U17 win Cup game with fantastic performance.Tries from Hetherington and 2 from Agnew with 2 conversions from Beacom secure a 19-17 victory.
CLICK HERE for action shotssssssssssssss
The Valley started with some great surging runs probing the Newry defence. The pressure finally paid off with a try from Fleming Agnew, converted by James Beacom. Newry came back with a converted try of their own. Just before the break a series of drives from the pack resulted in Chris Hetherington driving over from 5 meters to score Valleys 2nd try, again converted by James Beacom. The first half was a great team performance, with some fantastic runs from winger Mark Staunton. Newry made 4 changes for the 2nd half and this lifted their game. with 2 quick unconverted tries after 8 and 13 minutes. With the home side leading 17-14, the Valley team showed their determination and took the game to the home side. This forced Newry to kick long, Gary Dougan at full back cleaned up the high ball and kept the game safe for the visitors. The back row of Brendan McSorley, Jonathan Porter and Chris Hetherington covered every blade of grass on that pitch (several times) either supporting play or driving into the Newry defence. With 5 minutes to go and 3 points behind, Beacom decided to kick to touch from a penalty 30 meters out, just in front of the posts. The decision proved to be the match winner, the catch from McSorley in the lineout and the subsequent drive from the pack set the scene for the ball to be thrown out wide, giving Fleming Agnew enough space to dive over the line with the winning try. The man of the match award went to Dougan for his safe set of hands at full back. The unsung heroes were the front five with great rucking against a heavier pack. Next weeks game against Omagh (14th), then a 2nd visit to Newry in the league on the 21st.
