Omagh secured a valuable away win this morning at Letterkenny. Luke Murnaghan, Taine Lagan & Fintan Lagan scored tries with Kyle Beattie kicking two conversions and a crucial penalty in the gale force winds. Full match report to follow.
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Letterkenny 17 vs 5 Omagh
Omagh without much training or match time in the last month and with several changes of personnel played Letterkenny in a league game on Wed 28th Dec
Omagh without much training or match time in the last month and with several changes of personnel, played Letterkenny in a league game on Wed 28th December. The fixture was rearranged from Christmas Eve and the two teams meet again at Omagh on New Year’s Eve – surely the fixtures could be better laid out.
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The match was played in atrocious conditions and resulted in a close game resulting in a win for Letterkenny – more down to them surviving the Arctic winds, rain and hail which Omagh played into in the first half and had the referee running off the pitch for cover at one stage.
Omagh started well and the benefits of forwards coach Tom McNulty’s sessions being evident as the pack were driving forward and presenting go forward ball. Playing into a gale Omagh’s forwards dominated with Murphy, Shortt and Hunter making good yards. When Omagh did release the backs it was impossible to predict where the ball would go but Barry Bradley consistently beat defenders to take play into the opposition ‘22’. freddie mcdowell was a constant thorn in the Letterkenny side and won several turnovers and made good ground in attack. A frustrated Letterkenny player was red carded for a spear tackle which left McDowell with a stiff neck and luckily nothing worse. From the penalty David Long made a great run down the line and chipped ahead – luckily for Letterkenny, their full back was able to keep out Long and the flying Ryan Stewart. Eventually Letterkenny used the gale to push play down to Omagh’s line. Sterling defence from kyle arnold, stewart craig and Bradley kept the home team out – eventually force of numbers, and the prvailing conditions, allowed Letterkenny in for a try under the posts, converted to leave it 7-0. There now followed a hail storm and gale where even spectators were forced to take cover and all the players were suffering from exposure. The referee decided to call for half time and see if conditions would improve.
At this stage everyone was ready to ‘call it a day’ in what must have been the worst conditions possible for rugby. However, things did improve and Omagh restarted the second half with the wind and elements in their favour. However a few loose tackles and the Letterkenny outhalf scored under the posts to make it 12-0. Omagh started to use the wind and good play by James Shortt, william barton and Eoin Murnaghan put Omagh in position for Lee McLaughlin to score and make things interesting with a good try to make it 12-5
At this stage an injury to pack leader Gary Hunter meant he had to have x-rays on his neck which thankfully was not a serious issue. Also freddie mcdowell and kyle arnold both left the field. Substitute Jason Donnell made a great effort to fill in at flanker including several tackles but Omagh were now playing players in positions they were not used to and Letterkenny managed to score another try o leave the final score 17-5.
In spite of losing and in view of the injuries and lack of recent training this was a spirited performance by the young Omagh lads. Special mention to Shane Gibson who had an outstanding perfromance against his former club and team mates.
Team
Shane Gibson, Gary Hunter, gareth murphy, James Short, Brannagh McCabe, freddie mcdowell, kyle arnold, Lee McLaughlin, Eoin Murnaghan, Barry Bradley, stewart craig, David Long, william barton, gavin mcilwaine, Dylan Flanagan, Ryan Stewart, Jason Donnell
