Clogher grab third win in four against UL Bohemian

In a glorious autumnal afternoon, in front of almost four hundred people, the Valley produced their best performance of the season to date.

The men from Munster made the long haul from Limerick in the early morning but arrived in good time to work out any travel stiffeners before kick-off. 

As usual, the Valley conceded a height and weight advantage but still managed to outplay the visitors in a very clinical second half display. 

Apart from a brief excursion into the Valley 22 metre area, UL Bohs had to defend for most of the first quarter.

A thunderous Luke Russell tackle stopped them in their tracks as they tried to probe forward. The Valley opted for a scrum at a penalty but were driven back but still managed to maintain possession and field position. 

A charge down by Matthew Bothwell almost led to the opening score, but minutes later, the visitors were caught offside, and on this occasion, David Maxwell popped it over the bar for the opening three points of the game. 

UL Bohs almost hit back immediately their penalty coming back of the upright. The visitors enjoyed a period of dominance for a while and did take the lead for a period. Their out half threw a huge pass which cut out four Valley defenders allowing his left winger to squeeze in at the corner. 

The final ten minutes of the half belonged to the Valley. Aaron Dunwoody slipped through the UL Bohs defensive line to put Luke Russell in under the posts alas the referee said it was held up. It mattered little.

The goal line drop was fluffed, Callum Smyton gathered and found skipper Paul Armstrong who linked with Luke Russell who then sent Karl Bothwell clear to dash for the line and his opening try. It went unconverted but the Valley now had the lead which they would not relinquish.  

On the stroke of halftime, Karl Bothwell would strike again. A great passage of play saw David Maxwell, Paul Armstrong and Callum Smyton all involved before Jake Woods put Karl away for his second try which was duly converted by Maxwell.   

In the opening ten minutes of the second period, the visitors defended staunchly as the Valley sent wave after wave of attacks at their line.

Eventually, an attempted clearance kick was fielded by David Maxwell who linked with Smyton. Callum who was immense all afternoon, surged forward and put Karl Bothwell in for his third try of the day. No conversion but now a 15-point lead. 

As the half progressed the Valley lost influential scrum-half Matthew Bothwell. Ewan Haire switched to scrum half while Jake Woods filled in on the full-back slot. 

It was Ewan Haire who set up the next try. He scampered down the blindside from the base of a scum before linking with Callum Smyton who crossed for the bonus point try, with Maxwell adding the extras. 

It was all the Valley now as the men from Munster visibly tired. Smyton struck again coming off the back of an advancing scrum he breached the defensive line for his second and the Valley’s fifth try. Unconverted but it mattered little.   

UL Bohs, who play on a 4G surface but had trained twice during the week on grass in preparation for the visit to Fivemiletown, were stunned.

They did score a final converted try of their own before the Valley wrapped it up with two more tries. 

A penalty led to a line out which led to a rolling maul resulting in Aaron Crawford crashing over for the sixth try which went unconverted. 

As the clock reached the eighty Smyton, who was involved in all seven tries, made a searing break before Haire beat the last defender to score wide out on the right. Paul Armstrong completed the scoring with the difficult conversion. 

Hat-trick hero Karl Bothwell was awarded man of the match. 

Next Saturday all roads will lead to Dungannon for the next AIL League game.