The Armagh/Monaghan under 19s maintained their unbeaten record on Sat 30th Oct when they defeated a big Enniskillen team by 19-17.
Played in ideal conditions at the Palace Grounds the local side had a large number of players unavailable due to a variety of reasons and the signs did
not look good when Enniskillen took an early lead with a converted try. The locals got their game together and when Enniskillen became ill disciplined and started
to give away a lot of penalties the boys got back into the game with some strong tackling and some relieving kicks from Lorcan McGillan. In fact Lorcan reduced the arrears mid way into the half when he slotted over a well struck penalty. Unfortunately with Stephen Curley having to retire with a back injury, the side had only one line-out option and they struggled to keep Enniskillen at bay. On either side of half-time Enniskillen increased their through 2 unconverted tries.
At this stage Armagh/Monaghan were facing a heavy defeat but their character shown through and 2 great tries from Stuart Whitcroft when he took Enniskillen unawares with a quick tapped penalty and another from Lorcan McGillan reduced the score to 13-17. The locals continued their fight back and even some controversial decisions from the away touch-judge could not deter them. With Enniskillen losing their composure and constantly giving away penalties Lorcan capped a fine personal performance with 2 fine penalties to leave the local side winners 19-17.
This leaves the boys in a strong position at the half-way stage but they will have to go to both Virginia and Enniiskillen so the attitude in training and on the pitch has to be right. From what we saw last Saturday this team will battle to thr end and will work hard to continue their fine start to the season. It would be unfair to really pick out individuals, but both the McGillan brothers were always prominent and leading from the front.
