04th March 2008

Armagh won their place in the Powerade Town’s Cup final at Ravenhill on Easter Monday when they beat Enniskillen 0-39 last Saturday. The opposition in the final will be Portadown. This makes for an interesting final since they have the unique distinction of inflicting two defeats on Armagh this season.

With the retention of the the qualifying league title having disappeared Armagh’s sights have now been set on cup triumphs, so the Town’s Cup is the first of the two remaining hopeful possibilities.

Armagh’s record against Enniskillen was reasonably encouraging before Saturday’s game – it was played 3 won 3, but the recent league game in Fermanagh had been a closely fought thing. Armagh were, however, deemed to be favourites by the newspapers and so it turned out with Armagh scoring six tries to Enniskillen’s blank score-sheet.

Armagh were able to field an almost full-strength side, with Johnny Steenson reverting to full-back and Chris black coming in at out-half.

Once again the rain stayed away but a biting wind blew diagonally across the pitch.

So Armagh had the benefit of both the wind and the slope of the pitch in the fist half.

Armagh put their first attacking penalty down to the corner but they failed to score, instead they spread the ball across the field to gain another penalty which Steenson converted into 3 points.

The home side were wide with their first penalty attempt and Armagh proceeded to work their way down the field to eventually send Chris Black over for the first try. Steenson converted to put the visitors 0-10 ahead.

Johnny Allen put in the first of many strong runs down the wing and earned a penalty close to the line. Eoghan Curran chose the short penalty option and went in for a try but the referee was not ready. Armagh then chose to kick the penalty into the left corner. This led to the usual catch and drive leaving it clear for Joe Clarke to dive in for Armagh’s second try. Steenson converted to put Armagh 0-17 ahead at half-time.

The ‘skins started the second half well and it required a great deal of good defensive work from Armagh to hold them out, one tackle by flanker Clarke, for example, saving a certain try. The scrums were working well and the Armagh pack was winning lots of loose ball. The line-out was also going Armagh’s way but the wind was making throws to the back very tricky.

Johnny Allen went in for his second try after a period of severe pressure. The conversion was unsuccessful on this occasion leaving Armagh‘s lead at 0-22.

Conor O’Neill came on as replacement for Brian Patterson but a more serious substitution was forced on the Armagh team when Peter Elliot suffered an ankle injury.

Play was held up awaiting the arrival of an ambulance. Very few clubs have had the foresight of Armagh in having an ambulance present at all games!

Andrew Knipe took over in the centre for the lat ten minutes of the game. Armagh went for a push-over in the corner but Scrum-half, Curran, picked up and dived in for a try. Steenson added a difficult conversion to bring the score to 0-29. Five minutes later a fine off-load by Andrew Knipe sent Alistair Redpath over for a fine in the left corner.

Steven Morton came on as substitute for Joe Clarke. Armagh kept up the pressure but Ali Birch ran the last try as he scored at the posts to finish the game off with the visitors winning 0-39.