Honours even at Lime Park
By neil porterfield, 23rd Mar 2014
1st XV fall short of a deserved win
Armoy 1st XV delivered a gutsy performance which on any other day would have resulted in a victory. On a slightly heavy pitch the men from Lime Park dug in and knuckled down for a share of the spoils when at times it looked like a creditable victory was on the cards. A victory would have been well deserved as Armoy played only 10 minutes of the match with 15 players due to players being forced to retire due to injuries and also virtue of a referee who was more willing to deal out cards than a Las Vegas croupier.
Belfast High started the match the stronger of the 2 teams and opened the scoring with a penalty after a prolonged spell of pressure inside the Armoy 22. This early score did not bode well as Armoy were only playing with 14 players due to one of their players arriving late. Ten minutes after this player arrived Armoy were down to 14 men after a ruck infringement lead to a yellow card.
However the next score of the day came for the home team, some good phase play brought Armoy to within 10 meters of the High school try line. The ball found its way to Eoin O’Connor who broke his first up tackle and powered over the line for a deserved score which he also converted.
Some 5 minutes later he was on the score sheet again when he slotted over a penalty from the 10 meter line.
Half an hour into the match hooker David Linton was forced to leave the play due to a knee injury leaving Armoy with only 13 players for for a few minutes until the sin bin time had elapsed.
High school also lost the services of a player before half time due to an elbow injury on one of their centres.
Half Time Armoy 1stXV 10 – Belfast High School F.P 3
The second half started with Armoy asserting themselves but unable to put vital scores on the board due to a failure to find one last pass during some good phase play.
Armoy then lost another player through injury as scrum half Alan Bartlett was retired from the match as a precautionary measure after a head knock. With Armoy now down to 13 men High school probed an eventually their winger squeezed over the whitewash in the corner for an unconverted try.
It was now backs to the wall for a spell for Armoy but they endured this particular storm and broke clear with some more good phase play and forced a penalty in front of the sticks which was slotted over to give Armoy a 5 point lead with 15 minutes to play. However Armoy lost another player when the referee adjudged that there was a ruck infringement when it was evident to all that it was a fair turn over. It was during this particular sin binning High school took advantage of their 2 extra players and again crossed the white wash in the corner for another unconverted score. With the scores now even High School sensed a win was on the cards but Armoy held firm despite the referee showing yellow to another Armoy player for dissent even though the player receiving the card never uttered a word. Had the referee spoken to the sin binned player he would have realised that the transgressor did not have a thick cockney accent. But still “mustn’t grumble” Armoy held on for a creditable draw against a team that had already comfortably beaten them twice this season.
Final Score Armoy 1stXV 13 – Belfast High School F.P 13.
