Throughout the rainy month of February many local sporting matches fell foul to the weather, but I still managed to find several sporting events to attend.
We begin with soccer and despite a majority of the games in the Fermanagh and Western being cancelled due to waterlogged pitches, Strathroy Harps, with the help of the Omagh Leisure complex 4g pitch, continued to move successfully forward with their season. The Harps recorded an astonishing 5-0 win over Dromore rivals Tummery Athletic, keeping their Division 1 title ambitions on course and moving them 7 points clear at the top of the table. February proved to be a ultimately positive month for Seamus Fanthorpe’s side as they also progressed through to the next round of the Mulhern Cup after seeing off main title and cup challengers Lisbellaw United with a comfortable 3-0 victory, increasing their double domestic honour ambitions.
Moving on to the Irish League, where Ballinamallard United hosted Ballymena United. Despite Ballinamallard taking the lead thanks to a wonder goal from Shane McGinty, it was David Jeffery’s squad who proved that there was no League cup hangover as they fought back to win 2-1, thanks to goals from Johnny McMurrary and Connor McCloskey. The win helped the Sky Blues maintain their top 6 ambitions and kept their dreams of playing in Europe next season on course.
In other sporting news the Omagh Thunder hosted Ballymena Basketball Club in the Basketball Northern Ireland league. In what was a very entertaining game, Ballymena grabbed a 12 point lead, before Aidan Bradley’s side spiritually fought back to bring the tie within a point. However, two free throws eventually allowed Ballymena to see the game out.
Finally we finish with rugby and in the Kukri Qualifying league 1 the Omagh Academicals comfortably defeated Ards 72-0 at the Thomas Mellon playing fields to stay at the top of their group. The highlight of this game was without doubt a conversion from Scott Elliot, which split the posts despite the strong wind and rain. The video of the conversion can be found on any of the DOCSPORT pages!
Congratulations once again too to all the teams and individuals who gained success in the last month! We can look forward to another great month of local sport ahead.