This was the third time Armagh and Clogher would meet this season The away League match played early in January was a typically tight affair with Armagh coming away with a narrow 10-7 win. The Clogher Army descended on The Palace Grounds two weeks ago to play the semi-final of the Powerade towns Cup and humiliated Armagh with a 31-0 defeat. This was the biggest margin of a defeat for handed out to the Armagh side for almost 15 seasons. This defeat made Armagh treat the Clogher team with the utmost respect as a defeat in this, a league fixture, would be catastrophic at this stage of the season.
The match kicked-off in near perfect conditions and the rugby was played at an intense pace. Indeed, when the home pack lost a scrum against the head in the sixth minute it indicated that the Armagh team were certainly going to have to work exceptionally hard for their league point. To add to the Armagh’s team’s troubles the front row were penalised in front of their posts. The resultant kick rebounded off the vertical and when the clearance kick went straight to the waiting Clogher scrum-half Armagh were back under pressure and pinned in their 22. The game was beginning to be reminiscent of the last Clogher match. It was only when Armagh’s captain, Johnny Steenson made a classic break down the left wing that the home side gained any confidence. The home pack began to take control as the heavier Clogher forwards began to show signs of fatigue. It was only when Armagh kicked a penalty in the eighteenth minute that the home side began to show signs of any enterprising rugby. The referee was seen to warn the Clogher Captain for repeated rucking infringements. He awarded Armagh a further penalty just outside their 22. Johnny Steenson’s kick was accurate to put the score at 6-0. At this stage Armagh’s backs launched attack after attack but repeated handling errors continued to rob them of any further tries.
This continued to the half time break but Armagh were showing signs of growing confidence and immediately after the kick-off Clogher were pinned on their line. Again they were penalised and again Steenson’s kick put another three points on the board. Clogher put 3 points on the board when the home side strayed off side. Colin Atkinson was subbed on for second row Brian Bassett. This meant that Colin could slot in with the now-confident Armagh backs and was seen to punch hole in the flagging Clogher defence. Eventually this tactic paid off when left winger, Matty Irwin, scored a fine try in the corner. This brought the score to 14-3 as the conversion dropped short. Armagh, centre, Andy Holmes, then broke through the defence but again, just short of the line, some careless handling saved Clogher. This situation was put to right when a combination ogf Armagh backs and forwards pushed the flagging Clogher pack to one side to let Colin Atkinson ouch down. Again the kick fell short but the score at 19-3 began to look more respectable.
Shortly after this try, Colin was yellow carded for a high tackle. With the extra man available the Clogher pack were dominant and were seen to score a pushover try ath the Armagh posts. The conversion brought the score to 19-10 as the referee blew the final whistle.
The final score, whilst very close, was a lot more respectable than the previous 31-0 defeat! The Armagh side began to show signs of their flair and were able to contain the stronger and heavier Clogher pack. Armagh were now able to focus on the task which lay ahead when their league rivals travel to the Palace Grounds for Saturday’s epic season finale.
