It feels so good to unite, within yourself and within the FIGHT!
2nd XV kick off season at Lime Park
Resolute 2ndXV refuse to lie down to league champions.
Armoy 2nd XV kicked of the season at Lime Park against last seasons minor league north champions Strabane 2ndXV. Traditionally matches against Strabane were closely fought gritty encounters and this one was no exception to that rule.
The game started with Armoy kicking to Strabane who gathered the ball in well and set about there task of keeping the home team penned inside their own half. The visitors tried hard to get the early breakthrough in an attempt to rattle the Armoy confidence, but for they knocked at the door the Armoy defence held firm. It was in fact 25 minutes before either team made a mark on the score board and it was the visitors who finally broke the deadlock with a penalty just outside the Armoy 22. The rest of the half was played out with both teams having spells of possession but neither side relenting until virtually the last play of the half.
From a Strabane scrum just inside the Armoy 22 the ball was shipped down through the back line out to a Strabane player out on the wing. He cut inside and crashed over the line. Despite appearing to have been held up by 2 Armoy defenders the referee awarded the try from fully 15 yards away with his sight of the ball obscured by the Armoy tacklers.
Half Time Armoy 2nd’s 0 – 8 Strabane 2nd’s
The second half largleyfollowed the same pattern as the first half the only expception being that Strabane made the breakthrough after 5 minutes when Armoy spilled the ball at the back of a line out and a Strabane wing forward being quick off the mark to scoop up the ball and crash over the line for a converted try. This was the only score of the half with the rest of the match being played out as a stalemate.
It would be fair to say that Armoy had their best spell of possession in the last quarter of the match with both forwards and backs going through some good phases of play, it was just unfortunate that they could not make any decisive break through that they play deserved.
Final Score Armoy 2nd’s 0 – 15 Strabane 2nd’s
After the match 2nd XV Captain Neil Porterfield thanked each of the 15 players who turned out for a creditable and confidence giving performance. There were a lot of positives to be taken from the match but there are still many areas that need worked on and the only place that this can be done is on the training pitch. He asked for all players to turn out on Wednesday evening in preparation for next Saturdays match against Letterkenny 2nd XV @ Lime Park.
Special praise must also be given to John Cassley who made his debut as a prop on Saturday he stuck to the task and more than held his own against a very experienced Strabane front row, despite the referee who saw fit to award no fewer than 35 scrums in the match.
It was good to see Armoy centre Darryl Williams in the black and amber after a 3 year absence, Finally further congratulations to club president Tom Christie who maintained his record as being the only player to have played in every season since the clubs foundation in 1974. Well done Tam Bomb.
