ARMAGH UNDER 15S SET FOR FINAL
Armagh under 15s travel to Ravenhill next Saturday to play in the final of the under 15 cup.
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If they win they will have the distinction of doing the double as in April they won the round robin of the league. Standing in their way is a powerful County Cavan side Virginia the only team to have beaten Armagh this year. To get to the final Armagh had to play matched against Dungannon, Enniskillen, Letterkenny, Lurgan and Monaghan and they achieved this in true style. Then as a warm up they travelled down last weekend to Barnhall in Dublin and took on the Leinster champions. At half- time Armagh had raced into a 36-0 lead and were out of sight early in the second half 46-0 when they eased up and allowed Barnhall back into the game with 3 late tries. As a result they got the famous hair dryer treatment from Anton, the coach. Make no mistake Anton wants to win this game and apart from 2 serious injuries to Pearce Lennon and George Hadnett he has a full squad to pick from.
The strength of the side is in the backline and they have scored some spectacular tries this year. The forwards have played their part and do tend to win a lot of second phase ball. The back row is very well balanced and the speed of Ryan Morton, Oran Campbell, Daire Fitzmaurice and Niall McKee is matched by the guile and skills of Barry Finn. Then we have the strengths of Aaron Kennedy and Paul Mullan in the second row and if it hadn’t been for an unfortunate injury to George Hadnett in the school playground, Armagh could have had 3 big players to choose from. The front row almost picks itself with hooker Daniel Nugent playing probably his last game for Armagh. He is ably supported by props Shea Donnelly, Jake Wilson and Ryan Kilpatrick. If things go wrong or there is an injury Anton can call on Dylan Ross , George McCool to help out.
In the backs there are some talented runners and Armagh await the fitness of Tiernan O ‘Neil on the wing ,with the other three quarters Evin Crummie, Shane McKeever Neil McGuiness Kyle Gallagher and Dan Reynolds available this is giving coach Anton a selection headache. Other players to note are Cormac Fox at stand off and Nathan Rodgers at scrum half. They are ably supported by Finlay McAnerney, Peirre- Louise Hagan and if needed Owen McCreesh, Jordan Kilpatrick and Jake Odour can help out in the backs. At full back there is the talented Shea O’Brien who does his talking on the pitch and Shea although small in stature he is a big time player.
This team has blended well together coming from 10 different schools in the area and to see so many boys from different backgrounds and areas playing together is a wonderful sight. It wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for the dedication and commitment from Anton Finn the coach who almost single handedly has moulded this fine side together. He is backed up by a supportive group of parents and is regularly advised by Gervaise O’Brien in how rugby should be played.It is a testament to the role played by Mark Riddle in going around the schools and introducing rugby to a wide range of backgrounds.
Win nor lose Next Saturday there will be a celebration at the rugby club in the shape of a bar-b que to mark the efforts of these boys and to celebrate the Giro d-Italia coming to Armagh. All parents players, supporters and interested visitors to Armagh are welcome for what should be a memorable weekend in the life of our great city.
Armagh Under 15s Win League
The Armagh under 15s maintained their great season with an emphatic 41 -7 win against a gallant Monaghan side who went through their league season unbeaten. Armagh were like the Ireland side, absolutely magnificent and rarely gave Monaghan a chance!
In the overall league championship final game scoring 6 tries in the process and only conceding one score!
Played in ideal conditions on a firm Monaghan pitch, Armagh attacked from the outset and should have been several scores up in the first quarter. With their forwards driving hard at Monaghan the pacey backs had an abundance of ball but the final pass always seemed to go astray Sustained pressure resulted in an massive overlap and Shane McKeeever barged over for an unconverted try five minutes later Shea O’Brien danced his way over for another try and Armagh were in the driving seat. Shortly before half-time Cormac Fox streaked over for a third try to leave Armagh 15-0 up at the break.
Strong words from coach Anton Finn at half-time ensured that Armagh were quite prepared to play into the strong breeze in the second half and when Cormac slotted over 3 penalties, Armagh could afford to relax a bit. Further tries were scored by Shane McKeever, Paul Mullan. Neill McGuinness and a conversion from Cormac to leave the final score 41-7 to Armagh with Monaghan scoring a consolation try through the speedy centre Savage.
This was a marvellous win by Armagh and this seems to be the first league championship that they have ever won. This has been a team in the making with most of the boys learning their rugby at mini level and then through the under 13s when they got to the cup final at Ravenhill 2 years ago only to be beaten by Lurgan. They have a big squad of players to pick from and have been lucky with injuries this season the only casualty being Pearce Lennon with a broken ankle.
They are excellently coached by Anton Finn backed up by Harry Doyle and the whole team is overseen by Gervaise O’Brien and Richard Black. Great credit should be given to the thirty boys who turn up regularly and especially the younger boys who are not quite big enough to play at such a high level. The boys are now looking forward to a good cup run and they play Letterkenny at home this coming weekend. There is still a lot to play for and you can be assured that they will be trying their best to do the double.
