With the 1sts having a week’s break before their All Ireland League duties resume next weekend, and the 3rds having a late cancellation of their scheduled league fixture at home against Clogher Valley 3rds, all eyes turned to the 2nds who travelled to Clogher Valley with hopes of extending their good form in the Provincial League. The Valley ground is a difficult place for any side to play at, and Bangor knew that the strong Tyrone men would give them a hard contest.

Playing into the breeze and drizzle, Clogher Valley got the game underway. The home side settled into their game quickly, keeping Bangor pinned down in their own half for most of the opening exchanges. For Bangor’s part, they were unable to clear their lines effectively and hence added to their own difficult position. The big Clogher pack made their presence felt in the scrums and also in their charges forward and, somewhat inevitably, they made this strength count as they powered over for the opening converted try after 16 minutes of play, taking the lead by 7-0.

Just 5 minutes later, a high tackle in the centre of the pitch saw Dave Lynn floored with a broken jaw, which resulted in an early trip to hospital for attention. Everybody at Bangor wishes him a full and speedy recovery, and hope that we see him back in action soon. Surprisingly, Clogher received no yellow card for this offence, but at least the penalty led to an alternative source of justice. The kick to touch took play deep into Clogher’s twenty two. The lineout was cleanly taken allowing Bangor to set up a driving maul and push for the Clogher line. Although Clogher had the weight to hold the drive, Andy Smith peeled off the maul and nipped over in the left hand corner for Bangor’s opening try. The difficult touchline conversion was missed, but Bangor had got themselves back in the game at 7-5.

As the game progressed through the second quarter, Bangor looked to be the more composed and were producing most of the attacking runs. However, it wasn’t until the closing minutes of the first half that Bangor were able to convert their possession into points, when Rhys Larmour converted a penalty to put his side narrowly in front by 7-8 as the half time whistle arrived.

The second half started in identical fashion to the first, with Clogher on top and Bangor seemingly unable to relieve the pressure of being pinned down inside their own twenty two. Once again, Clogher made this count as they crossed the line for an unconverted try, and moved ahead by 12-8. To make matters worse, Bangor’s restart didn’t go the requisite distance giving Clogher the benefit of a scrum and resuming their attack. However, despite Bangor’s difficulties in these scrums, their speed and handling across the backs was markedly superior to their opponents, and this was clearly illustrated after 18 minutes of the second half when the ball was passed crisply through the backs until it reached Daniel Young on the right wing. Having rounded his immediate defender, Young kicked through into space behind the Clogher players, then simply outpaced the retreating defence to gather the ball and touch down close to the posts. Young then added the simple conversion to put Bangor back into the lead by 12-15.

Not to be outdone, Clogher came straight back and took play right up to Bangor’s line. Despite the powerful Clogher drives for the line, Bangor’s defence managed to hold them out, but only at the cost of conceding a 5 metre scrum after holding up the ball when in their goal area. Given their dominance in this set-piece, it came as little surprise when they controlled the ball at the back of the scrum and then marched over the line for the try. With the addition of the conversion, Clogher had regained the lead at 19-15, with 13 minutes left to play.
As the game entered its closing minutes, it was Bangor who were looking the stronger side, but handling mistakes and poor kicking gave away possession cheaply. As if to counter these costly elements of the Bangor game, Matt Nesbitt decided to neither kick nor pass as he went on a charge from just inside his own half. Having stepped out of tackles in the middle of the pitch, he picked a gap in the Clogher back line and set off for their twenty two. As the tackles failed to bring him down, Nesbitt kept going further. With the line now in sight, he held off the final defender while managing to somehow stay on his feet, before diving over at the foot of the posts for an outstanding solo try. Young added the straightforward conversion to put Bangor back in front by 19-22, with just 2 minutes left to play.

It was now a time for calm heads and sensible play if Bangor were to keep Clogher from coming back again. At least that is what the handful of Bangor spectators and support staff felt was the best plan. As the Bangor players safely gathered the Clogher restart, the ball came back to Shaun Fair at out half. His decision to put in a long cross-field kick drew gasps of disbelief as the ball was held up in the prevailing wind and looked as if it might be stolen by the advancing Clogher backline. Fortunately, Bangor managed to collect the ball and started a run down the right wing. Now confident in their back division’s running abilities, Bangor kicked the ball back inside and towards the Clogher twenty two. As the ball bounced awkwardly, Jamie Mendez failed to make contact but Ryan Young was also in support to gather and take the attack on. As Young tried to dart back inside, he found his route blocked, but Mendez had kept going and was on hand to take the short pass that gave him just enough room to crash through the final few metres and score under the Clogher posts. As Daniel Young added the conversion, the referee blew for full time and Bangor could celebrate what had earlier looked like an unlikely 19-29 bonus point win. All credit to the Bangor players who never gave up and repeatedly fought back for the full 80 minutes.