Saturday saw Armagh entertain old rivals Rainey to the Palace Grounds to play their penultimate All Ireland fixture in the Ulster Bank League. To date Armagh had consolidated their top half league position all season but their defeat, last week, to second bottom placed Ards indicated that the local side had lost a certain sparkle to their performances. Rainey, on the other hand, had topped the league all season and made no secret that a victory result from Saturday’s visit to Armagh would secure promotion to section 2A of the League.
The game had been postponed from Saturday 23rd March due to bad weather taking out almost all rugby in Ireland. The IRFU had declared that the rescheduled fixture must be played over the week-end and Rainey were unable to play the game on Friday it was decided that the only opportunity to play the game was to play the game on Saturday. Unfortunately this arrangement coincided wit the Club’s hosting of their annual Mini Rugby tournament. Incidentally the success of this tournament has spread near and far resulting in it now registering as the biggest rugby tournament in Ireland. The sheer logistics of scheduling games for 1100 children and controlling car parking etc. to leave the main pitch clear for 3-30pm was nothing short of a miracle and all credit has to go to the club’s mini rugby section for their efforts.
The game kicked off in perfect conditions with the thoughts of recent muddy, snowy fixtures long in the past. Both sides illustrated their willingness to play open, fast rugby early on in the game However, it was Rainey who opened the scoring when their full-back kicked a penalty in the eleventh minute. Rainey were never to lose this lead throughout the game. They added another seven points when their centre stormed through some poor tackles to touch down near the home posts. Again the boot of the full-back was on target. Twenty minutes into the game and already 10-0 down was causing concern in the home camp! Before the break Rainey’s tight head prop force in another try which was again converted to bring the half-time score to 0-17.
Shortly after the re-start Richard Reaney put Armagh on the score board when he kicked a difficult penalty. Rainey replied with another penalty and a further converted try to open the score out to 3-27. By now it was blatantly obvious that the game was lost but the margin was becoming a concern! This concern became a nightmare as Rainey managed to penetrate the Armagh defence again to score another converted try in the process also securing the match bonus point which ensured the league winning result! Just before the final whistle Armagh’s Stuart Lester (an ex Rainey player) managed to score in the left corner but the conversion went wide to leave the final score at 8-34.
Nothing could deny Rainey’s right to the win as they were by far the sharper side. To witness Armagh getting turned over more in the one game than they had been all season pointed to Rainey’s supremacy and Armagh’s need to focus on their approach to next season’s campaign.
Next week sees Armagh entertain Connemara at the Palace Grounds. The Connacht side have had a nightmare season having lost all but one league game. They have propped the last position all season and were assured of relegation from before Christmas. No doubt they will want to put on a sound performance when they travel to Armagh!
