12th May 2008

The Harden Cup was established in 1898 and this is the first occasion that an Armagh’s side has won the cup outright. An Armagh team in 1964 shared the cup with a North of Ireland club side.

The City of Derry team featured a number of their players who beat Armagh firsts in the Qualifying/Senior play off last season so this Armagh team was determined to put the record straight.

Derry opened the scoring after 15mins with a penalty to lead 03-0. Armagh’s pack lead by Richard Shilliday and Andrew Morton started to dominate proceedings which lead to a Richard Reaney penalty after 25mins.

Phil McAlister and Josh Morton threatened in the backline however the Derry defence held firm. Continuous Armagh pressure was rewarded when Reaney struck again after 30mins. As Armagh started to dominate in the forwards Reaney had 2 more penalty opportunities which were missed.

An injured Cuttle was replaced in the centre by John Faloon on 35mins. On the stroke of half time Reaney converted another penalty from 40m to increase Armaghs lead to 09-03.

5mins into the second half an injured Phil McAlister was replaced in the centre. Faloon broke from within his own half and looked to be able to go all the way however the final pass did not go to hand.

Derry put most of their subs on as concerted effort to turn the game however Armagh instead upped the tempo and force Derry into a number of errors.

Reaney at outhalf was controlling the game especially with some excellent out of hand touch finding. With 30mins left Keith Dougan replaced Jason McMahon.

Josh Morton and Sam Shephard came close to scoring however a scrambled Derry defence managed to keep them out.

With 25mins left Armagh got the break through. A well rehearsed move from a solid scrum on the half way line saw Andrew Winder put Sam Shephard through the gap. Despite the attention of two Derry defenders Shephard raced through to touch down in the corner.

Much to the delight of the vocal Armagh support Reaney converted from the touch line to put Armagh ahead 16-03.

Mathew Wright replaced Andrew Winder at scrum half.

Oliver fielded the kick-off well and immediately returned the play back into the Derry half. Derry threw everything at Armagh and Shephard was yellow carded with 14mins remaining.

The new Armagh centre partnership of Faloon and Brady defended aggressively and put Derry on the back foot.

The Armagh back row of Rory Hanna, Chris Wallace and Steven Morton also deserve credit for the amount of ball won in the loose.

Armagh had to defend a number of 5m scrum and line outs and eventually the 14 man Armagh team allowed Derry to score a dubious try. The conversion appeared to have been missed but crucially it was awarded to bring Derry within one score.

Steven Morton, (junior), replaced Andrew Morton and made an immediate impact turning the ball over on the kick off. Shephard returned from the sin bin.

Derry frustration and tempers boiled over and several brawls occurred. After a stern talking to by the referee play continued and the Armagh scrum took strikes against the head. Armagh remained in the Derry half for the final 2 tense minutes until the final whistle.

Captain Mark Laverty lifted the Harden cup for the first time.