Gutsy Letterkenny overwhelmed by Organised Omagh.

As a friend who went to school in well known rugby-playing school in Belfast remarked, ‘- the one fixture we all dreaded every year was the Omagh away match’. Letterkenny’s under-thirteens, trooped off bravely to that very encounter on Saturday morning last, arriving at Omagh Academical’s in the early morning mist.

A crisp kick-off from Oisín Rafferty was deftly caught and fielded by the Omagh forwards, setting up the first of many surging rucks. Ominously, possession was kept with practised ease, and the pack ground their way slowly up the field passing the halfway mark with the ball under the watchful eyes of the Omagh’s forwards. A sudden break by a wing forward and the ball was fed out the line to the left, to see Robert Clemence crash over the line right of the posts after two minutes and twenty-five seconds. A hesitant kicker, put off by Letterkenny’s advancing forwards missed the conversion. Good man Sam MacGinty!

Unfortunately for Letterkenny, the organised forward play set the pattern for the rest of the half, with Omagh hogging possession, and breaking when the line seemed within striking distance. Despite valiant tackling from the Letterkenny boys, tries followed again from Clemence, Mark Cotton-Brown, Leon (sorry! missed the surname), Andrew Hall and Stewart Robinson.

On the plus side, the first of the match’s scrums, awarded to Omagh, saw the Tyrone boys being pushed backwards and went against the head, despite their clear weight advantage. Wet Wednesday nights training in Thorn Road clearly paying off early in this season. Well done lads!

Half-time saw a somewhat shell-shocked but unbowed Letterkenny pondering a strategy for the remaining twenty-five minutes. Certainly, Omagh had to work a lot harder in the second half as Letterkenny set about tackling and closing down Omagh’s room for manoeuvre. Keelan, PJ and Caomhin distinguished themselves in particular with fearless tackles, stopping Omagh advances in their tracks.

However, the well organised forwards proved again to be too much, and tries followed from Andrew Hall, Samuel Hamilton, and James Rutlidge. Robert Clemence finished as he had started with a touch down just right of the posts in the final minute.

No disgrace here, Letterkenny played well, and with conviction to the final whistle. A late consolation try was narrowly missed by an unfortunate and uncharacteristic knock on five metres short of the line. Credit where credit is due, the Omagh forwards are a well trained and impressive pack.

FR

Final Score: Omagh 69 Letterkenny 0
Scoring Sequence:
First Half: 02.25 R Clemence try 5, 06.09 M Cotton-Brown try 7, 08.21 Leon try 7, 12.03 A Hall try 7, 17.41 R Clemence try 7, 23.26 S Robinson try 5.

Second Half: 35.38 A Hall try 5, 41.42 S Hamilton try 5, 46.17 A Hall try 7, 48.00 J Rutlidge try 7, 50.01 R Clemence try 7.