The Armagh/Monaghan side fell at the second last hurdle on Saturday last when they were beaten by Malone under 19s in a closely contested game at Gibson Park. The locals fielded almost their strongest side but came up against a Malone side who had several Ulster under 19s and under17 players in their ranks. It didn’t help matters when Lorcan McGillian had to come off after 5 minutes with a nasty elbow injury which meant that David Savage had to slot into the out-half position. Malone started strongly and after sustained pressure went into the lead with a penalty in from of the posts. The locals, with an excellent scrum and line out, had a few scoring opportunities themselves but poor tackling allowed Malone to score a converted try after 25 minutes.
The locals came back strongly and after a fine break from Savage they almost reduced the deficit with a penalty which just narrowly missed. If the score had have been 10-3 things could have been different in the second half. The locals got off to a bad start in the next period though when, from the kick-off, Malone scored from a charge-down kick to leave Armagh/Monaghan facing a stiff test of their character. They didn’t cave in though, and fought to the bitter end when through the best move of the match Malone scored in the corner to leave the score 22-0. This does not do justice to the boys as they gave 100 per cent and can be rightly proud of their achievements to date.
