Armagh travelled to Navan to play their eighth game in The Ulster Bank All Ireland League. Having won two games from seven they held an almost identical league status to Navan with each team having earned thirteen points. Both teams were equally in need of league points to boost recent lacklustre match performances and both needed a victory to boost flagging team morales!
Navan kicked off with a stiffish breeze at their backs and to the intense annoyance of all the Armagh contingent the home team scored a try within two minutes after kick-off! From a line-out the Navan tight-head prop forced his way over the Armagh line to start the Armagh misery! The conversion went wide but with the scoreboard, showing Armagh 5-0 down so early in the game was certainly giving cause for concern.
Typical of the plucky Armagh temperament they immediately launched an attack from the restart with Andrew Willis putting in a determined run down the right wing only to be tackled fifteen metres short of the Navan line. The forwards also put in some resolute attacks in the form of a well controlled rolling maul which gained them over twenty metres and getting them inside the Navan ‘22’. From this position, they fed the ball out to the backs but yet again a handling error put paid to all the hard graft! Events took on an even worse turn when left-winger, Matthew Irwin, made a break, which evaded several Navan tackles. He kicked ahead and went to go round his opposite number when he seemed to be’ taken out’ off the ball. 
Time seemed to freeze as both sets of spectators expected to see a penalty? A yellow card? Even a penalty try? What was the outcome? A penalty was awarded against Armagh but the Referee failed to signal the reason for his decision, which seemed to baffle all spectators.
The plight deepened 5 minutes later when Armagh leaked another try when some slack defence let the Navan left winger in for a very soft try. This was converted to put the half-time score at 12-0
Armagh’s coach, Andy Hughes, must have had some serious words to inspire his team because they appeared to take a firmer grip on the game in the second half. They were making good progress keeping Navan pinned in their ‘22’ but, yet again, the gremlins struck when some half-hearted tackling let the Navan winger through to score yet another soft try. The conversion put the score out to 19-0. Armagh, again knuckled down and after a period of concerted pressure scored a push-over try. Unfortunately the conversion drifted wide but the score at 19-5 offered a little encouragement. The Armagh pack yet again displayed their grit by stealing a Navan lineout and after another sound rolling maul a touch down was awarded to James Morton. This tome James McBriar was accurate with the conversion. The score now stood at 19-12. This meant at least Armagh could go home with a losing bonus point! Alas this was not to be! In the dying minutes of the game Navan were awarded a penalty in front of the Armagh posts in the dying moments of the game. As the kick went over so did the vital bonus point! A final score of 22-12 left Armagh bereft of any reward for the hard afternoon’s work.
The game illustrated that Armagh are capable of playing some very strong phases of rugby and are capable of holding their own against some very physical packs. They are, however, still haunted with the record of making the simplest of errors. These seem to stem from a lack of confidence and the only way to gain confidence is to win games. A dilemma, which is very difficult to eliminate when competing in a league as competitive as the All Ireland competition.
In the cold light of it all when we look at the updated league table the win has elevated Navan from twelfth place to ninth. While Armagh drop back from tenth to twelth position.
