The players and officials of Armoy took the clubs inaugural trip to the far west of County Donegal to face league newcomers Tir Chonail on Saturday.
After a long and very bumpy coach trip through the mountainous countryside we arrived at one of the most surreal venues for a rugby match. After miles and miles of hills and peat bogs there in front of us was the only flat piece of land in that particular part of county Donegal. Coincidentally it was also adjacent to the worlds quietest airport. With a very strong wind blowing in off the Atlantic across the pitch, it was obvious that most of the play was going to be carried out down one side. With Armoy receiving the kick off the ball landed in the hands of No8 Ian Caldwell who wasted no time and went barging into the onrushing Tir Chonail pack. He felled 3 tacklers before being brought down 10 meters inside the Tir Chonail half. From the ruck outhalf Jarvis Traynor kicked the ball further into the T.C 22. With the T.C full back struggling to gain control of the ball he inadvertantly knocked the ball backwards into his own try area. By the time he had turned around it was too late as Armoy winger Richard Bartlett had burst down his wing from the initial kick and was presented with the easiest task of falling on the ball for a try. Unconverted.
Again from the kick off the ball landed in the hands of Ian Caldwell who again barged into the defending T.C forwards. Armoy set up some good ruck play but were perhaps guilty of being a bit too keen to take the play to T.C which in turn caused handling errors. As usual the Armoy scrum was solid and was taking the ball against the head on some occasions. It was not long before Armoy added to the scoreline. From a scrum inside the T.C 22 Armoy picked and drove from the base of the scrum. From the ensuing ruck the ball was popped out to onrushing tight head prop Rab Shannon and from 10 meters out he powered through 2 tackles to crash over the line for a well deserved score. Converted by J Traynor.
Half Time Tir Chonail 0 Armoy 12
The story of the second half was similar to that of the first with Armoy in the assendancing and T.C forced to defend only occaisionally managing to cause the Armoy backline any defensive worries. However the T.C tackling in the second half was more robust and they did well to hold out the Armoy onslaught. At one stage with Armoy camped on their goal line they tackled hard and couragously in order to keep the visitors out, but it was ultimately to no avail as from a series of failed pick and drives on the T.C goal line the line was breached by Armoy scrum half Mo Walker who at last found a gap in the T.C defensive wall to dive over for a score. Unconverted.
Final Score Tir Chonail 0 Armoy 17
After the match Captain Gareth Christie thanked everyone for their efforts in delivering another good performance in difficult conditions.
On Belhalf of every one from Armoy who travelled to Tir Chonail, may we thank Tir Chonail RFC for their wonderful hospitality and good spirit in which the match was played. They are a credit to the sport of Rugby and we wish them well in the future.
