Armagh approached this All-Ireland League fixture with a degree of trepidation and uncertainty. The Instonians club has, historically, always been one of the strongest in Ulster club rugby. Indeed, Armagh played Instonians last season in the Ulster Senior League and leaked three tries in three second half to loose out o the Belfast team. It has been rumoured that the las time Armagh defeated Instonians in a league fixture as when the games were played on the Mall in 1973!
Saturday’s game kicked off in fine conditions with the temperature at 6 degrees. Armagh’s nervousness immediately became apparent when they were caught off side in only the second minute. Instonian’s out half, Greg Mullany, stepped up kicked them into a 0-3 point lead. This appeared to settle the home nerves and Armagh sent left-winger, Andrew Willis, into the left corner for a fine try. Dylan Ferreira converted to put 7-3 points on the board. Armagh’s other first half tries were scored by tight Head prop, Phillip Fletcher and Richard Reaney. The other points all came from the boot of Dylan Ferreira. Instonians scored a try when, right winger went over in the fourteenth minute. The boot of Greg Mullany scored their other points to put the half-time score at 30-10.
The second half saw Armagh score a further two tries from James McCall and Matty Wright. Instonians, on the other hand, had to rely solely on Greg Mullany to score a further try and kick his way to their total of twenty points.
Having secured five tries Armagh earned themselves a bonus point. They thoroughly deserved this point as by the end of the game they were seen to dominate all aspects of play. The final score of 45-20 reflected the home team’s fast, open style‘s scoring ability. To witness the speed that they can spread the ball wide is exhilarating to say the least.
Saturday’s result has put Armagh joint leaders on top of the All Ireland League section 2B. They share the honours with Naas and Reaney Old Boys. Next Saturday sees the team have a well earned rest but the following week sees them travel into Leinster to play recently promoted Skerries.
