Bangor capped off their remarkable season with a terrific 12-29 bonus point win away to Munster champions Clonmel which put them top of the All Ireland League Round Robin series and, in so doing, earned them automatic promotion to the Senior Leagues.

With their closest rivals Enniscorthy expected to record a bonus point win against Westport, Bangor were faced with the prospect of not only having to beat the two times Munster champions on their own pitch, but also needing a try-scoring bonus point to ensure they topped the play-off table – failure to do so would mean a trip to Sligo, who are the second from bottom team in AIL Division 2C, in a final play-off to see if Bangor could win promotion, or Sligo remain in their league. Clonmel came close to promotion last year, only to fall foul of a league re-alignment process that denied them. They had also recorded a much bigger win than Bangor against Westport a few weeks earlier. However, they had lost at home against Enniscorthy the previous weekend and this, together with the fact that Bangor had narrowly beaten Clonmel in the All Ireland Junior Cup last season, provided some cause for optimism.

This optimism was quickly realised when, just 2 minutes after Bangor had kicked off, David Bradford intercepted a loose Clonmel pass which caught the home side cold and gave him a clear run to score in the left hand corner. The kicking duties were undertaken by Jason Morgan, who judged the wind well and added the conversion to put Bangor ahead by 0-7.

Soon afterwards Clonmel had a chance to narrow the gap when they had a kick for goal, but the effort brushed past the post. Sensing a let-off, Bangor went on the attack again and soon forced a penalty deep inside Clonmel’s twenty two. Having opted for the scrum, Bangor won the ball cleanly for Curtis Stewart at Number 8 to pick up and drive for the line. Although half-tackled within sight of the line, he managed to get back on his feet before diving over for Bangor’s second try. Morgan added the conversion to double Bangor’s lead to 0-14 with 17 minutes played.

Just 5 minutes later, a similar situation presented itself, but this time Stewart’s charge from the base of the scrum was halted. However, having found this route to goal blocked, Bangor quickly spun the ball to Davy Charles on the right wing where he managed to squeeze over in the corner for an unconverted try. Bangor were now 0-19 ahead, with just 23 minutes played, and just one try away from securing their bonus point.

Clonmel started to fight back and were soon putting pressure on Bangor’s line. However, despite several phases of attacking play, they were unable to break though and finally lost possession following a Bangor turn-over. A good kick by Gareth Millar over the heads of the advancing Clonmel players led to a chase for Mark Widdowson who kicked the ball forward again only to be beaten by the bounce which fell kindly for the Clonmel defender, but his kick for touch was sliced and gave Bangor an attacking lineout inside Clonmel’s twenty two. Craig Burton won the ball cleanly and set up a good attacking platform. Following a couple of phases which moved play both inwards and towards the Clonmel posts, Phil Whyte got the ball from 5 metres and charged over for the all-important bonus point try, despite the close attention of two Clonmel defenders. The simple conversion was added by Morgan to give Bangor a commanding 0-26 lead.

To their credit, Clonmel continued to push forward and were eventually rewarded with their first score when, after 38 minutes, repeated forward thrusts forced a rare gap in the Bangor line resulting in an unconverted try, making the half time score 5-26.
The second half was unable to produce the same level of excitement and scoring as had been demonstrated in the first, with Bangor now understandably focussing on protecting their position and Clonmel with no option but to try and find a way through the solid Bangor defence. However, Bangor put themselves in a difficult position on two occasions when Davy Charles and Darren Kelly were shown the yellow card following several penalty infringements. Bangor had to dig deep to prevent Clonmel from taking advantage, but having ridden out the first of these sin bin periods, during the second one Clonmel finally were able to made use of the extra man and produce an overlap which led to a converted try, narrowing Bangor’s lead to 12-26.

But with just over 10 minutes of play remaining, it was looking unlikely that Clonmel would be able to add the 15 points necessary to snatch the win. As it was, Bangor had the last word when, following a period of sustained pressure inside the Clonmel twenty two, they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. As Morgan safely converted the kick, the referee blew for the end of the game and Bangor’s celebrations could begin.

Without doubt, this has been a remarkable season for Bangor having won the Junior Cup, Towns Cup and Qualifying League, and now also adding the AIL Round Robin award to earn a long-awaited return to the ranks of senior rugby after an absence of 14 years. It’s perhaps worth remembering something of Bangor’s history in Ulster rugby to appreciate the significance of this result. Bangor’s participation in the senior tier of Irish rugby goes back to their first appearance in 1924, before emerging from the 2nd World War in the Junior section. Bangor’s submission for Senior status in the 1965/66 season was rejected by the Ulster Branch (IRFU). This was to prove the catalyst for an enthusiastic Committee to draw up the blueprint for a Club Development Plan in preparation for a re-application for Senior status in 1968. A massive fundraising appeal, the generosity of the people of Bangor, the procurement of substantial grant aid, and a lot of hard work brought this vision to reality, culminating in the completion of Upritchard Park, named in honour of Joe Upritchard. This coincided with Bangor regaining Senior status in September 1969. Over the next 20 years, Bangor rose to eminence as one of the top Senior clubs in Ulster and Ireland. When the All Ireland League began in 1989, Bangor competed very well in Division 2. However, with the onset of the professional game in the mid-1990s, Bangor’s ability to compete at the highest level declined, and in 2002, they slipped back into Junior rugby.

Over the past 14 years, and in particular the last couple of seasons, the hard work by everyone associated at the club over what has been a long and arduous playing schedule, has all been worth it and they can now look forward to the new challenges that await in AIL Division 2C in the coming autumn.

Bangor team: J Leary, P Whyte, M Ferguson, D Kelly, C Burton, M Aspley, D Bradford, J Clegg (c), J Guthrie, G Millar, M Widdowson, J Morgan, M Weir, D Charles, R McCloskey

Subs: A Jackson, C Stewart, P Dornan, D Caughey, N Cuthbertson

Bangor scorers: D Bradford (1T), C Stewart (1T), D Charles (1T), P Whyte (1T), J Morgan (3C, 1P)