28th October 2006

This much heralded game certainly lived up to its billing on Saturday at The Palace grounds when Armagh eventually pulled through in the last few moments to give a narrow victory 19-16. This result does not, however, mean that Armagh move to the top of the table but they do move back to second place, a single point behind Cooke, but with a match still in hand. Coleraine had no game, so they move to third position a league point behind Armagh .

Saturday's game was a real cliff-hanger with Cooke taking an early lead and Armagh not equalizing until well into the second half. Eventually the home side moved into the lead with their only try of the game but Cooke pulled back with a converted try to level the scores at 16-16. A missed penalty seemed to have cost Armagh dearly but with time running out Johnny Steenson kicked his fourth penalty to snatch a vital victory for his side, to the huge and vocal relief of the Armagh team and crowd of supporters.

The return game between Cooke and Armagh on 13 th January should be very interesting as this Cooke side looks to be a confident one. They have a good scrum which held its own quite well and a useful line-out which very few teams can out-do Armagh at this aspect of the game and indeed Armagh can claim to have had the better of the Cooke side in this aspect of the game.

With the regular out-half injured the Armagh backs did not produce as much running rugby as usual, so it was left to the Armagh place-kicker Johnny Steenson to rescue Armagh, and not for the first time!

Once again Armagh confounded the weather forecast since the game was played in near perfect conditions, with the slightest breeze blowing. A penalty awarded to Cooke in the first minute was a foretaste of what was to come, the referee was very quick to award penalties throughout the whole game. Armagh missed a penalty before Cooke gained another penalty to bring the score to 0-6 after only 6 minutes.

Out-half Alan Whitcroft was just wide with a drop-goal attempt, but a penalty had already been awarded to Armagh which Steenson failed to put to touch in the corner. James McCall made a fine burst up the middle of the field but did not have back-up! A Steenson penalty from 50 metres closed the gap to 3-6 and immediately afterwards a penalty awarded to Armagh was reversed, presumably, for dissent.

The sides exchanged penalties to keep Cooke in the lead at 6-9. A knock on the face to Eoghan Curran led to his replacement at scrum-half by Stephen Auld. Joe Clarke was yellow-carded and a Cooke penalty was just short but was well fielded under the posts so Cooke remained half time leaders at 6-9.

Cooke began the second half with a charged down defensive kick but desperate defence from a 5 metre scrum led to an Armagh penalty which was splendidly put down into the Cooke half by Steenson.

He then landed another penalty to even up the scores at 9-9. Eddie Orr then replaced James McCall at no.8.

A kick through by Man-of-the-match Sam Shepherd and his chase of the loose ball led to his try under the posts which Johnny Steenson converted to put the score at 16-9.

Armagh then put on a display of pressure on the Cooke line for a considerable period.

The tried for a push-over try but to no avail, so the next score was by Cooke when another charged down clearance kick gave Cooke a try at the posts which was converted to leave the score at 16-16.

Steenson was short with another penalty to win the game but he was granted another opportunity in the dying minutes and he seized his last chance to land another penalty to snatch an Armagh victory.

Armagh have a free Saturday before the next league fixture against Clogher Valley on Saturday 11 th November in a vital game with a 2-30pm kick-off!