City of Armagh RFC First Fifteen played a pre-season friendly on Saturday at the Palace Grounds in preparation for the commencement of the Ulster Senior this weekend. Clogher Valley were the visitors and old friendships were renewed both on and off the pitch. The Junior club had recently returned from a successful tour of Canada and with another friendly against Rainey under their belt, were certainly not going to be pushovers on the pitch. Armagh on the other hand took the opportunity to give most of their senior squad a run-out with a few new faces having their debuts in an Armagh shirt.
The pitch was in superb condition as the match started, a credit to all the hard work during the summer and Armagh put some early pressure on the visitors. WIngers Lester and Willis were keen to get into the action while new out half Magowan, was settling in well as the match progressed. Clogher then took the game to Armagh and their pack looked impressive. CLICK HERE for action shots
The half time whistle went with no points being scored, indicating the even nature of the encounter.
Coach Andy Hughes made quite a few changes in personnel as the second half commenced and spectators were keen to see assistant coach Seamus Mallon turn out in the centre. MIdway through the second half, Armagh made the break-through. WInger Falloon made a superb run handing off several defenders before passing inside to James McCall to score in the corner. A superb touch line conversion from Johnny Steenson gave Armagh a 7-0 lead.
Clogher however soon fought back and score an uncontested try to make the score 7-5.
Indeed the match ended with Clogher in the ascendancy and they missed a late penalty kick which would would have won them the match. Overall, a good run out for Armagh before this week’s encounter with local rivals Dungannon.
