Armagh made the long trek north to Balllymoney to play the third league game of their season. To date they have won all in front of them but there is a nagging feeling around the Palace grounds that we have not seen the best of this team yet! Last week they beat a newly promoted Academy side but with a stack of handling errors to haunt them it was never an easy game. This fixture was almost lost last season when Armagh appeared to take their foot off the gas and scraped home with a narrow win albeit without a bonus point. Was this going to be another nail-biter with the elusive bonus point eluding us yet again?
The match kicked-off with a very sharp, but unseasonably warm, breeze coming diagonally across the pitch at the backs of the home team. Only two minutes into the game Armagh were awarded a penalty when a Ballymoney player failed to release the ball once tackled. Steenson put the kick over despite the strong breeze and the score was now 3-0. This early penalty was not to dampen the Ballymoney resilience and straight from the kick-off they put the pressure on the visitors which resulted in a wayward box kick which was collected by the Ballymoney lock forward and scored a fine try five metres from the corner flag. The conversion went wide to make the score 5-3 to the home side.
Armagh responded with a fine display of back-play with the ball being moved from the forwards to each winger but ended with a handling error which undoubtedly was caused by the ever stiffening breeze. Armagh had done a lot of work in the scrummaging department through the week and the results were showing in that they were able to push the heavier Ballymoney pack off the ball and won a crucial scrum ‘against the head’. This lead to second row, Joe Clark, touching down a fine try but Steenson failed to convert. This brought the score to 5-8. Thirty minutes into the game Ballymoney were awarded a penalty when an Armagh defender strayed off-side. This was kicked to bring the score to 8-8. These were the last points Ballymoney were to score in the game. Armagh, however, failed to capitalise when they had possession for a prolonged period inside the Ballymoney ‘22’. The ball was repeatedly passed right across the Armagh line of attack only to end with the ball being blown astray and ending up as a knock-on.
The half-time break saw Armagh turn round with the breeze now at their backs and the supporters anticipated a fairly easy passage to the final whistle. Not so since the home side started to play with renewed vigour and spoiled all that Armagh could throw at them. Out-half, Freddie Cuttle, made a fine break down the left wing and appeared to break clear of the winger’s tackle only to stray into touch by the finest margin. After a phase of the game when the referee appeared to award penalties on a ‘tit for tat’ basis Armagh failed to take advantage of a period of some ten minute’s play in the Ballymoney ‘22’. The home team then broke out of this siege and, in turn, took the play up to the Armagh ’22’. Armagh then suffered a body-blow when Prop, Melvyn Hopps, was forced to leave the field with a shoulder injury. Substitute, Andrew Morton, took over in the front row but Armagh were seen to stutter under the constant pressure which Ballymoney were able to draw on. All this effort had taken it’s toll and with only ten minutes left on the clock Armagh scored a fine try when, winger, Luneau went over in the left corner. The score now stood at 8-13. After a scrum five metres from the Ballymoney line Mattie Wright scored one of his typical opportune touch-downs just left of the posts. Steenson converted to bring the score to 8-20. Directly from the re-start the ball was fed to the Armagh right winger, Mattie Maguire, who scored at the corner flag. This was converted by Johnny Steenson, in a now very strong wind, to bring the score to 8-27. Alexis Luneau was injured when he took a blow on the side of his head and he, also, was forced to leave the field.
The game finished with no further points being scored but it was clear that Armagh need to tighten up on the handling errors since they have become to be major factor in the last two games. Also evident was the feeling that Armagh could have lost this game up to fifteen minutes before the final whistle. The Ballymoney side threw everything at Armagh but seemed to run out of steam and were unable to stop the superior Armagh attacks in the dying minutes of the game.
Next week sees Armagh travel to Belfast to play Malone second’s in the Junior Cup.
