Omagh 3’s hosted Bangor 2nds on Saturday with one clear goal. A win at all costs. With Captain Todd picking one of the strongest sides in weeks it was clear from the outset that Bangor were never going to be in the match. Huge tackles from Keith Givens, Richard Harpur and Sheldon Monteith rattled the visitors early on and they never recovered. Omagh took possession and marshalled by Dean McConnell the forwards had a series of drives through the middle of the Bangor defence. Under pressure the penalties came Omagh’s way and quick thinking from Andrew Armstrong saw him break down the blindside to feed the supporting Scott McClenaghan to crash over in the corner. James Irwin slotted the conversion from outwide. Omagh were not done yet, from the resulting kick off they crashed through the middle again, with Bangor getting nowhere in the lineout and the scrum of McLaughlin, Monteith and Todd giving the visitors no end of trouble it wasn’t long until Simon Monteith grabbed his try under the posts after some great pick and drives. Leading 14-0 Omagh where in a good position but a mistake at kick off gifted possession and Omagh then showed true grit to hold the visitors for a full 20 minutes until half time when the Bangor side sneaked a questionable try in the far corner. Bolstered by reminders that leaving opportunities behind them can hurt the Omagh team sprang into action in the second half. Squeezing and frustrating the Bangor side that clearly had nowhere to go. Joe Reid and Sheldon Monteith tackled every runner Bangor sent at them and the mistakes came. Another disrupted scrum put the Bangor scrum half under pressure who panicked and threw the ball to the waiting Andrew Armstrong who gladly accepted this present on his birthday and ran under the posts to score. From the resulting kick off Omagh again put Bangor under pressure a rolling mall from the lineout allowed the backs the freedom to run with Andrew Armstrong taking his second try when his opposite number slipped the tackle. It was to sum up the match when Omagh again returned to the Bangor line with Joe Reid unlucky to get turned over, the resulting kick away by Bangor was fielded by James Irwin who ran hard into the defence crashing through two players before the game was stopped when it was clear one of those players had unfortunately gotten his head the wrong side of the tackle and was out cold on the floor. Omagh were then awarded the scrum, using the blindside Dean McConnell broke wide and fed the returning Jason Gallen who crashed over would be tacklers to score. 31-7 up the game finished with the only Bangor attack of the game which was eventually turned over. A great win against a side that are sitting at the top of Section 3, Omagh will take great confidence heading in to their cup match next week.
