28th January 2008

Armagh put on their best show of the season last Wednesday night when they hammered Dromore 54-0 at the Palace Grounds, scoring eight tries in the process. With the well earned bonus point Armagh therefore progress up the league table to third place.

Armagh were forced to make several changes, with Johnny Steenson being replaced by Stuart Lester and David Martin replaced by Jamie Cornett. However, such is the strength of the Armagh squad the changes worked very well. This was the game arranged to replace the cancelled match in October when the referee failed to turn up. Looking back Dromore would have probably preferred to have that fixture to have gone ahead.

They hold the bottom league position and desperately need points to remain in the qualifying league. However, Armagh, now back in good form, also need league points for a different reason and so they subjected a visiting team to a second 50 point 8 try hammering: after the Limavady victory 4 weeks ago.

Armagh not only began the match very smoothly, scoring their forth try in only thirty minutes of play.

They kept up the pressure all through the game scoring their last try as the final whistle blew, albeit some ten minutes early. From the start the half-backs used the good possession to great effect with Adam Gowing setting up his three-quarters very slickly.

The backs put in some very neat tries. The forwards dominated the scrums, with push-over tries always being a strong possibility.

The line-outs were also dominated with Joe Clarke and James Morton taking clean possession and feeding the scrum-half quickly.

The pitch was in fine condition, despite the recent foul weather. Dromore had the advantage of a slight breeze but the home side attacked from the kick-off. After 13 minutes Alistair Redpath cut clean through the centre and showed a great turn of speed to score at the posts.

Gowing kicked the first of his seven conversions. Gowing then put in a neat kick to Johnny Allen’s right wing. Allen dribbled around the Dromore winger and Lester came up to gather and score at the posts. Gowing again converted.

Ethan Allen went off with a shoulder injury and was replaced with Chris Black. Armagh kept up the pressure and Johnny Allen went in for a first class try again converted. So Armagh had notched up 21 points in 22 minutes.

The forwards now took over and went for a push-over try. They were penalized and Dromore took the put-in but Armagh still went for the drive.

James Morton got the try but Gowing failed to convert, his only miss of the game.

So Armagh gained their bonus point fourth try after only 30 minutes play.

They did not slacken even with a 26-0 lead and almost gained another try in the left corner on the 31st minute but the ball was miss-handled.

The first try of the second half went to Ally Birch who touched down at the posts for Gowing to convert. Johnny Allen forced his way over at the posts for his second try to notch up 40 points.

Peter Elliott scored the next try and Joe Clarke finished things off with another score at the posts which was converted to give the home side a 54-0 win. The referee blew up some ten minutes early to the relief of all concerned just as the weather turned nasty.