Congratulations Omagh CBS – now keep it up!
Congratulations to Omagh CBS for emerging victorious in the Y8 blitz held at the Club on Tuesday 23 October 2012.
Omagh Accies would like to encourage those that took part to continue with rugby.
Training for Y8 boys from all schools continues on Thursday evenings between 6.00pm and 8.00pm at Omagh Leisure Centre and on Saturady mornings at the Club.
Contact Kevin Murnaghan for further details on 07775 811851.
Randalstown 6 Omagh 11
A lat gasp cover tackle by injured Omagh out half, Lee Warnock was enough to put the opposing winger into touch and brought a heart stopping end to a match that saw the visiting Omagh Accies did hold on for a much needed win by 11 points to 6.
There were chances to put the game away in the second period but poor decision making at critical times cost the Co. Tyrone side, but with 12 players either injured or unavailable on Saturday, and coming off the back of a couple of consecutive away defeats, this was a welcome result .
“This was an important win for us bearing in mind we have a three week break from league action”, agreed Omagh captain, Mervyn Edgar. “Our next league match is against Lisburn on the 24th November and we hope to have a few of the walking wounded back for that one. We hope to then field more settled side, but credit for the lads who have come in, they have done a sterling job and have got great experience at the same time. This will serve them well for the rest of the season, never mind the future”, he noted.
Omagh started slowly in a disjointed first half, no surprise from another reshuffle in the ranks with the backline in particular hampered by injuries and lacking any preparation with week to week changes in personnel. They took the lead with a David Ward penalty after 15 minutes against a confident Randalstown side which had a couple of wins under their belt already this season after securing promotion in a very successful campaign last time out.
The youthful Accies outfit extended their lead later in the half as they began to settle and put a few phases of play together. The influential Ward came into the line and slipped a neat grubber kick through. The rangy fullback gathered his own kick and fed Yonga Taleni. The powerful centre powered through a would be tackler and run in for a well taken score. The conversion was missed.
With the half nearing an end, Omagh were awarded a penalty. They opted for the scrum thinking it was outside Wards range. They were penalised and then watched as the home kicked stepped up and slotted over a penalty from the half way lie to leave the half time score 8-3.
The second half saw the Accies on top though the harmony and patterns that come from a settled winning side akin to last season were missing though they did play some attractive rugby at times. A couple of breaks firstly by prop Mark Smyth and then Taleni were not capitalised on. With more ruthlessness in critical situations these two opportunities would have been converted into tries and the game sealed.
As it was Ward swopped penalties with his opposite number to leave the score 11-6 to Omagh as the game entered its final stages The home side exerted tremendous pressure on the visiting defence, now lessened in number from Adam Pollock’s yellow card, surely no example to set to debutant big brother Lee in the second row.
Randalstown threw everything at the Omagh line but were denied by the last gasp tackle from the covering Warnock, testament to his dedication and commitment as he played on, and was on hand to make the telling tackle despite carrying a shoulder injury. A marginal decision, the winger was adjudged to have had a foot in touch and the whistle blew, much to the relief of the hardy band on travelling Omagh supporters.
Warnock suffered a shoulder injury which may rule him out a=for a few weeks, though coach, phil marshall will have been heartened by the display of o’ Neill who made the change from wing to out half easily and looked very handy in the playmaker role.
Johnny Sproule continues to mature at lock, securing plenty of ball at the two jumper position and carrying ball well, while kyle alexander will have benefitted from another full game as the loose head prop regains full fitness. On the downside, Ashley McIlwaine is ruled out for several monthly with a broken leg.
Omagh have arranged fixtures for the next two weeks. They travel to near neighbours Dungannon to play the seconds on Saturday 2nd November at 12.30pm, while the following Friday night sees them visit Judges Road to play City of Derry seconds under the floodlights.
Team: David Ward, Andy McFarland, Yonga Taleni, Alan Heaney, Ryan O’ Neill, Lee Warnock, Alistair Ferguson, kyle alexander, Adam Pollock, Mark Smyth, Johnny Sproule, Lee Pollock, Mervyn Edgar (c), Aaron Shortt, Richard Smyth
