Photo by Ken Redpath
City of Armagh 2nd XV City of Armagh Seconds were on the road again last Saturday when they travelled to play city of Derry seconds in the 2nd fifteen league. There were a number of changes to the side which defeated Ards the previous week with Brian McConnell and Andrew Morton coming the front row, Willy Martin into the second row, Robbie Faloon came off the wing to play scrum half, Mark Allen and John Faloon stepped up to play on the wings.
The game kicked with Armagh playing uphill into the breeze with an early penalty chance converted by Mathew Steenson. On 8 minutes Jonny Allen made a good break to put Mark Allen away on a 35 metre run to score in the corner. With the conversion by Steenson, Armagh had an early lead of 0-10. Unfortunately shortly after, Andrew Morton had to leave the field with a shoulder injury leading to uncontested scrums.
Andy Morton Had To Leave The Field Injured This setback didn’t deter the remaining 14 players and as is the norm for this team, they stepped up a gear and produced some dynamic play from both forwards and backs. On 20 minutes Josh Morton scored in the same corner where John Faloon had been denied earlier after putting a foot in touch. At 0-15 up the team were now playing some inspirational rugby with Derry unable to keep possession of the ball or to get any territorial advantage.
On 34 minutes Jonny Allen broke through the midfield defence and when tackled off loaded to Simon Cuttle who took the ball at pace to score a converted try at the posts. There was still time left before the half time whistle for Derry to make their way downfield to convert a penalty.
Half time, City of Derry 2XV 03 vs. City of Armagh 2XV 22
With the breeze now at their backs, Armagh led by Clarke, McNeice, Davy and Willy Martin in the forwards took the game to the big Derry forwards. Robbie Faloon was proving to be a very able deputy at scrum half and kept the Derry back row guessing as to what his next move was. On fifty five minutes good movement in the backs put John Faloon in mid way out for a converted try 03-29. Again the injury jinx struck Armagh when Simon Cuttle had to leave the field with the re-occurance of an ankle injury.
John Faloon Scores for City of Armagh 2nd XV This meant playing the last 20 minutes with 13 players and suddenly Amagh’s position in the game seemed not as secure. However, the team’s determination to battle and scrap for every ball and committed tackling from each player kept Derry from crossing the line. After a period of Derry pressure deep in the visitor’s 22, Armagh broke downfield and fast hands from the backs put Josh Morton in at the posts for another converted try 03-36.
In the closing stages of the game Gareth Megaw picked up a loose ball and cut through the Derry defence to score another converted try at the posts. This really was a magnificent performance from what is an exciting young team who when faced with adversity, knuckled down and played the game of their lives.
Team – Brian McConnell, Gareth Megaw, Andrew Morton, Willy Martin, Davy Martin, Gareth McNeice, Stephen Morton, Jonny Clarke, Robbie Faloon, Mathew Steenson, John Faloon, Simon Cuttle, Jonny Allen, Mark Allen, Josh Morton. |
