Armagh kept up their winning march on Saturday when they made a conquering visit to Limavady and came away with a splendid 41-6 victory, notching up five tries in the process so the look forward to the visit of Coleraine to the Palace Grounds next Saturday with keen anticipation.

Armagh's first two victories in the qualifying league were gained against rather weaker opposition. Bangor are a struggling side and Donaghadee are newly promoted, and Armagh were at home. So Saturday's away fixture at Limavady was a real tester in every sense. Never forget that Armagh were beaten three times by Limavady last season so to come away with such a fine win was a tremendous boost. This result must have seriously shaken the other League sides especially the Coleraine club members who came along to watch their opposition.

It must be stressed that Limavady are a strong side, who gave Armagh's defence a hard time.

But Armagh have only conceded one try in their three games, and that was when they had only thirteen men on the field!

This must demonstrate that they are merely an attacking force. And remember that they did level the scores in the first half with their second penalty. However, they did not score again whereas Armagh went on to score another 35 points!

Armagh supporters must come along to The Palace Grounds next Saturday to admire this magnificent side, which has demonstrated it's capacity to win both home and away and in all kinds of weather conditions.

Last season the Armagh side did not perform well against the Co. Derry sides - Rainey, Coleraine, and Limvady. Now only two are left as junior sides and with Limavady despatched, victory over Coleraine could signal the start of an all conquering season.

The changes which Armagh were forced to make did not hinder them greatly. Conor O'Neill was unavailable and was replaced by Keith Dougan at prop, Eddie Orr was again ruled out by injury. Steven Auld came in at scrum-half and Andrew Winder was on the wing. Limavady kindly arranged a brilliantly bright and sunny afternoon, in contrast to previous Armagh visits.

They kicked off and Armagh swung the first scrum but lost possession. However, Armagh got a penalty which Johnny Steenson duly converted to give Armagh an early lead. He added another then Limavady kicked their first penalty but Armagh strayed off-side from the kick-off, however they easily stole the scrum and Johnny Allen kicked down his wing to gain good position. Armagh elected to go for touch from a penalty but, for once, lost the line out. Allan Redpath made a glorious break only to be tackled 10 metres short of the Limavady line. Limavady were awarded a penalty which they levelled the score at 06-06.

A Limavady lock was yellow carded and Steenson kicked his third penalty to give Armagh the lead once again. They might have been expected to exert more pressure on a weakened Limavady pack but spread the ball wide to Johnny Allen who squeezed past his wing and score the first try for Armagh.

Gary Hanson then replaced Dougan in the front row.

Limavady missed a penalty on the stroke of half time leaving Armagh narrow leaders at the break.

Three minutes into the second half saw Steenson put over a penalty.

James McCall burst through but managed to knock-on. Limavady intercepted a pass on half-way but failed to score through the Armagh defence.

The next try came from a break by McCall who passed to Polack who gave Davy Martin the ball to score under the posts. An easy conversion by Steenson brought the score to 24-06.

Limavady set up a number of attacks on the Armagh line but their defence held firm. Twice Steenson had to resort to long touch kicks from behind his line to save Armagh. There was a strongish cross-field breeze but it actually did not favour either side.

A kick ahead by Polack was taken on the bounce by Redpath who dashed through for a very typical try which was converted. Redpath was replaced by Mark Laverty.

After a period of sustained pressure from Armagh Auld darted in for a try which was converted.  Armagh's fifth and Johnny Allen's second try was on the final whistle as once more Armagh passed the 40 points away from home.

Once again Armagh were much superior in their forward play, although Connor O'Neill was missed in the front row. The usual domination of scrums was in evidence although there were no push-overs and the line-outs were, as usual, totally dominated by Armagh. James McCall showed again what a valuable asset he is both in attack and defence.

Steven Auld got his backs going well and kept his opposite number under severe pressure. Redpath, Allen and Steenson revelled in the amount of good ball they got, and they must feature in opposition's concerns over forthcoming games.

All in all a very satisfying win and a team worthy of home support.

David Martin was nominated as The Classic Mineral Water man-of-the match.