Armagh seconds played Dromore in a Qualifying 1 conference league game at the Palace grounds on Friday night. Watched by a good crowd, the seconds were keen to take on Dromore and establish where they stand as a team with respect to Qualifying 1 teams. The game kicked off with play mostly in the middle of the park with both defences cancelling each other out. Dromore were noticeably more aggressive at the breakdown resulting in good quality ball for their backline. The Armagh mid field pairing of Jonny Allen and John Faloon were kept busy with some big hits the order of the day. On 17 minutes, Dromore went over at the posts for a converted try to give them an early lead of 7 – 0. Armagh were winning their share of possession and making inroads into Dromore territory. Matthew Steenson stroked over a penalty on 25 minutes to reduce Dromore’s lead to 7 – 3 after good play by Jeffrey Allen and Willie Martin. Dromore continue to infringe at the breakdown and in mid field with Steenson adding another penalty on 32 minutes to close the gap to 7 – 6. Dromore looked dangerous throughout and led by their big South African second row added another 3 points just before half time, 10 – 6 to Dromore. On the restart Armagh took the game to Dromore and several flowing moves ended with good cover tackling by Dromore. Stuart Lester cut through the Dromore defence from half way for a certain score only to be called back by the referee for a lineout infringement. On 53 minutes, Dromore scored an unconverted try in the corner after sustained pressure in Armagh’s 22, 15 -6 to Dromore. The game was turning out to be end to end attacking from both sides and on 58 minutes Steenson added another penalty to bring the score to 15 – 9. On 65 minutes Eddie Irwin, latched onto a loose ball on the half way line after a Dromore attack broke down and hacked the ball up the pitch. After a kind bounce, he scorched off towards the Dromore line and when met by the fullback, he delicately chipped the ball over and won the race for the touchdown. A trademark try from Eddie and a sign of a return to form after injury, 15 -14 to Dromore. With 15 minutes left, the home side upped the ante and went into allout attack mode, Dromore continued to infringe but Armagh couldn’t make their possession count. With a few minutes to go good play by Steenson, Faloon and Purdy created an opening for Timmy McNeice who wrong footed 2 defenders and headed off on a 35 metre run to the line. A last ditch cover tackle by the Dromore winger was deemed by the referee to have held up Timmy over the line. From the 5 metre scrum, Dromore put a drive on disrupting the Armagh ball and the chance was gone. After the fulltime whistle, it was noticeable that Dromore were relieved to have come through this game on top. For their part Armagh continue to develop and if injuries can be avoided, this team can do themselves justice in what is a very tough league.
