| Armagh (16) vs Cooke (14) |
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20th November 2007
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After the 22-10 league defeat at Clogher last week the Armagh coach, Colin Steenson, had some serious words at the Palace Ground’s training sessions through the week. Effectively, if Armagh failed to secure a home win against Cooke the season was to all intents and purposes over. With this overtone in the back of the team’s mind they were all well aware that they had to put in an extra special performance.
The constant, heavy rain at kick-off meant that handling the ball throughout the game would be tricky. Armagh were quick to establish the fact that they were the hungrier side and started off by controlling all aspects of the game. Although the home pack were visibly much lighter but they seemed to be packing more power and were seen to dominate both scrums and line-outs.
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Ten minutes into the game the Cooke backs were penalised for straying off-side but Johnny Steenson failed to put points on the board.
A ten minute period of sustained pressure from the home side resulted in Armagh being awarded another penalty when Cooke pulled down a rolling maul. This time Steenson was accurate with his kick and put the score to 03-0.
Five minutes later saw centre Ethan Allen collect a poor clearance kick from the Cooke full-back. He burst through two tackles and was unfortunate to loose the ball when tackled by his opposite number.
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Ethan Allen Attacks The Cooke Defence |
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Two minutes later saw the same centre penalised for inflicting a high tackle on full-back Johnny Steenson. Steenson was again successful with the kick and brought the score to 06-0.
The game now moved into the Armagh half for a ten minute period and saw Armagh penalised in front of their posts for pulling down a maul. Surprisingly, Cooke decided to kick for touch but no points were scored.
The pressure was relieved when the Cooke out-half dropped a pass and the resultant scrum illustrated that the Armagh pack were again beginning to stamp their authority on the game. The Armagh pack pushed the visitors a good 5 metres in the process of winning the scrum. For a much lighter & smaller pack this was to prove a significant point in the game.
In the back line Alistair Redpath, at out-half, was seen to control the game to good effect. His touch kicking and passing were accurate and communications seemed to improve as the game progressed.
The Cooke centre, surprisingly, scored a try under the posts in the dying minutes of the first half when he put a fine grubber kick past the Armagh defence. The try was converted to bring the half time score to 06-07.
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Johnny Allen Scored A Fine Try In The Second Half
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Early into the second half right winger, Johnny Allen scored a superb try in the corner.
Steenson converted this to bring the score to 13-07.
Yet again the Cooke backs penetrated the Armagh defence when an overlap let the right winger in for a try 20 minutes into the half.
This was converted to bring the score to 16-14. The Cooke no. 8 was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle on Armagh captain, James Morton.
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A charged down clearance kick by Morton almost ended in a try. It now became obvious that, although Armagh had dominated most of the game, a try could secure the game for either side.
The game ended without the elusive try and Armagh gained four valuable league points. Cooke, however, did not go home empty handed as they had gained a bonus point by losing within seven points. Things could have been different if Cooke had brought an effective goal kicker.
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