The only side to genuinely dominate Armagh last season was Barnhall when they travelled into Leinster to play on the university grounds in Maynooth.
Virtually a solid week’s rain had rendered the Palace .rounds sticky but playable. Prior to the fixture Barnhall topped the league’s scoring tally with 329 points. On the other hand, Armagh’s excellent defensive record indicated that they had only let 99 points pass them to date!
CLICK HERE for the shots from GCP
Armagh kicked off with a slight breeze at their backs from the Palace end. Within two minutes play Barnhall knocked-on and the first scrum of the game was called. The result of this encounter was to illustrate a significant feature of the game. The lighter, more mobile Armagh pack’s scrimmaging technique enabled them to push the heavier Barnhall forwards off the ball in every scrum in the subsequent eighty minutes. Armagh’s backs were penalised for ‘crossing’ and the Barhall full back, Simon Gillespie, stepped up to kick a fine penalty to put the visitors 0-3 ahead.
The even nature of the match was illustrated when caught off side three minutes later and the boot of Dylan Ferriera evened the score to 3-3. The enterprise of the Armagh forwards was illustrated when a short line-out took Barnhall by surprise and only for a handling error Willie Martin was certain to score the first try of the game. The resulting scrum resulted in what will be remembered as one of the most obscure referreing decisions ever seen at the Palace Grounds. On the put in to the scrum the Armagh forwards applied the push and were seen to force the Barnhall pack backwards all of three to four metres and still moving when the visiting front row ‘popped up’ .The referee then blew up and penalised Armagh for dangerous play. In any comparable situation a penalty try would be awarded to the advancing team but in our game we must always respect the referee’s interretation of the laws of the game.
Immediately from the restart Armagh exerted more pressure on Barnhall and again an Armagh handling error saved the visitors. The first half ended with the Barnhall side exhibiting their off-loading skills when they managed to penetrate the Armagh defence to gain twenty metres ground. The first half ended with both sides very evenly matched and the score at 3-3 emphasised the even nature of the game.
Rain was seen to threaten as the second half kicked-off and within two minutes the Barnhall no. 6 was sin binned for repeatedly straying off-side in rucks. Armagh strived to make use of this numerical advantage and repeatedly attacked the Barnhall line. From such an encounter the Barhall left winger deftly collected a stray ball from the base of a ruck and ran the length of the field to score under the home posts. The conversion put the visitors 3-10 ahead. Not to be outdone Armagh’s no 8, James McCall collected a ball from the base of a scrum and scored a determined try. Richard Reaney kicked the conversion to bring the home side back into contention. A further try by Phillip Fletcher was disallowed when the referee considered it to be ‘held up’. Shortly after the boot of Richard Reaney put Armagh ahead 13-10 when he kicked a difficult penalty.
The accuracy of the kicking from Barnhall’s Simon Gillespie then determined the result of the game. He kicked a drop goal and two further penalties to bring the final score to 13-19.
It has to be said, that apart from the freak try the Barnhall side never really looked to threaten the Armagh line. If Armagh had been more accurate from the kicking tee they would have won the day and not have had to make do with the losing bonus point!
