01st April 2008

Armagh’s second game of Easter week was scarcely as exciting as the Easter Monday rout of Portadown in the Powerade Towns Cup final. The team travelled north to Limavady with a young side, scored four tries and came away with therefore with a crucial bonus point.

Obviously, next Saturday’s quarter-final match against Ballymena second fifteen at the Palace Grounds is of much more importance. It is essential, however, that Armagh continue to keep up their winning run. They have not lost a game since January 5th and have secured a vital top four league position.

This guarantees them a place in next season’s AIB All-Ireland Junior Cup. Indeed, if they can win the remaining league fixture against Coleraine with a bonus point the can end the season in a creditable second position.

Six changes were made to the Cup-winning side and it was very encouraging to see how well these young replacements integrated with the senior players. These young players were drawn from the club’s under 20’s side and it is a clear indication of both Armagh’s current strength in depth and the bright future shown by these player’s skill levels.

Because of the recent bad weather, Limavady’s normal pitch was unplayable and the game was transferred to the local Grammar School’s grounds. The weather remained dry for the game but the usual diagonal breeze was a factor to which Armagh have contended with lately.

Armagh began the game with a period of intense pressure but Limavady defended well. The first score was a penalty, kicked by Richard Reaney, one of the new replacements. He had a very impressive game in the centre position where he impressed both with his running and kicking.

The next score was a very typical one. The penalty kick on to the corner, the clean line-out take, and the drive over the line. How may tries have Armagh scored in this fashion? James Morton was awarded the touch-down but the conversion bounced back off a post leaving the score at 0-08.

The next try came from a scrum when Eddie Orr picked up and fed young scrum-half Matty Wright then sent winger, Stuart Lester in for a very neat try from 30 metres. This conversion, again from Rainey, was successful to give Armagh a deserved lead of 0-15. Limavady then scored a try to leave the half-time score at 05-15.

The line-out was working very well with Davy Martin and Eddie Orr taking lots of good clean ball. Young Josh Morton scored Armagh’s third try from a kick into the corner. This conversion went just wide bringing the score to 05-20.

Limavady scored the next try when their out-half went through some very weak tackling to score at the posts. He went on to convert his own try and close the gap to 12-20. Armagh now made several changes – Brian McConnell was replaced by James Johnston and Chris Black by Noel George. Johnny Steenson moved up to out-half and young George took up his position on the left wing.

Limavady then put in a fine try and converted it to bring the score up to 19-20. This score-line put a renewed vigour into the Limavady team and they were attacking very well now. It was a relief when Armagh were awarded a penalty which Reaney put over to bring the score to 19-23.

Reaney then ran in a very fine try between the posts after some neat three-quarter passing. He then went on to give Armagh a 19-30 lead. Limavady doggedly put in another try to bring the score up to 24-30. Stephen Morton went off injured but Armagh held on to their 24-30 lead. There was a certain amount of relief when the final whistle was blown.

The bonus point & four league points secured seemed fair for the quality rugby shown by Armagh. Limavady also get a bonus point for ending up within seven points on the board.