Clogher Valley 54
CIYMS 10
Clogher Valley moved top of the league with a comprehensive 44-point hammering of CIYMS in front of their home supporters at The Cran.
CIYMS came strongly out of the blocks, heaping heavy pressure on the Valley, but the home side weren’t to be perturbed.
Instead, they turned the tables on CIYMS, with Stuart Brown scoring the opening try and Paul Armstrong kicking the conversion to give the Clogher men an early advantage with just 13 minutes on the clock.
The Belfast outfit did muster up a score of their own through a penalty but Valley doubled their advantage with a try from Richard Primrose and another conversion from Armstrong.
CIYMS kicked long into the Valley ‘22 minutes later and Brown rose highest to catch the ball and go on the attack. The ball travelled through the hands of Regan Wilkinson to Armstrong and on to David Sharkey who dived down beneath the posts.
The reliable Armstrong kicked the conversion to increase the Clogher lead to 21-3.
It was all Valley in the second quarter and another converted try, this time from Callum Smyton, all but wrapped up the victory for the home side.
David Maxwell tagged on another try before the break, and while CIYMS did manage to score a try in the last play of the game, it was a mere consolation as they trailed a heavy 33-10 at half time.
CIYMS did try to make something happen in the second half but Valley just soaked up the pressure.
On the 60-minute mark, Regan Wilkinson touched down for his second try, which Armstrong duly converted.
With the win and bonus point wrapped up, Clogher finished the game with a flourish.
Wilkinson made it a hat-trick of tries for the game with Armstrong kicking the conversion.
The on-point kicker got in on the action himself, crossing the line to put an extra shine on a standout performance.
His conversion was the final action of the game as the full time whistle sounded to bring an end to a dominant Valley performance at The Cran.
Clogher now turn their attention to the Bank of Ireland Towns Cup when they take on Lurgan tonight [Wednesday] in Lurgan.