06th January 2007

Armagh took their first step towards a cup treble when they travelled to Larne on Saturday and beat the local side 36-7 scoring five tries in the process. While the winning margin may seem large, it was a close fought game with two of Armagh 's tries coming late in the second half. Larne fought back very well and continued to attack for long periods, so for Armagh to limit them to only one try was a tribute to the strong Armagh defence.

Armagh were able to turn out almost a full strength side, with Phil Polack returning at out-half and Johnny Allen making a very welcome return in the second half. The forwards enjoyed their usual superiority, with the line-outs producing their usual high percentage of good, clean possession. The huge advantage which the Armagh line-out has is that there are so many good jumper variations and the opposition cannot concentrate on one jumper. The scrums also were very effective and wore Larne down as the game went on.

The customary, strong Larne wind did cause trouble for the backs. It was diagonal, blowing towards the sea and both teams experienced problems adjusting kicks towards that quarter.

Stuart Lester is settling in very well and his second half try was really first class.

At the back Johnny Steenson excelled in his usual three phases - in coming up into attacks, keeping the opposition out and in adding to his lengthy list of conversions and penalties.

Armagh kept up the attacks with the forwards handling well and it was only fair reward when Joe Clarke got in for the second try. The conversion, into the wind, was very good putting Armagh 12-0 up.

Larne attacked strongly and got a good try, the conversion coming in off the post to narrow the margin to 12-7. Andy Winder took a quick tap penalty in front of the posts but it led to no result. However, another penalty from the same spot gave Johnny Steenson the opportunity to bring the half-time score to 15-07.

Larne began the second half very well but the Armagh defence stood firm and all that resulted was a wide attempt at a drop-goal.

James McCall made a great run down the right wing which was stopped by Larne by an illegal shoulder charge. The resultant penalty was put into the corner. The now, customary, Armagh catch and drive gave the visitors another try. Joe Clarke was the scorer once again. A good conversion by Johnny Steenson put the score to 22-7.

Winder went on the blind side from a scrum but was held up just short of the line. The next try was the most spectacular of the day.

Quick passing across the backs gave Lester good possession on the half-way and the young winger rounded his man then cut inside two Larne defenders to score under the posts.

This was converted to bring the score to a comfortable 29-07.

This enabled coach, Colin Steenson, to bring on his subs and a very useful pair they were in the form of Johnny Allen and Eddie Orr. Allen went on to the right wing in a straightforward replacement for Sam Shepherd but the other was more interesting.

Hooker, James Johnston, suffering from influenza, came off and was replaced by the versatile Brian McConnell, whose place in the second row was taken by James Morton. This allowed Eddie Orr to take up the No. 8 position. Johnny Allen wasted no time in sailing in for a beautiful try at the post to bring the final score to 36-07.