Saturday saw Armagh make the long trip deep into Connacht to play their fifth game in the Ulster Bank League against Connemara in Clifden.
Armagh’s form has slipped into a somewhat mediocre form recently. They headed west with two defeats from Banbridge and the ‘skin of their teeth’ win against Sligo still fresh in the back of their minds. This all made the result from this fixture all the more crucial.
The game was played on the Monastery Field in near perfect conditions with bright sunshine and a magnificent backdrop of what could only be described as breathtaking scenery.
Connemara kicked off with a slight breeze at their backs but Armagh had to contend with a bright, low sun in their eyes. Ominously, Armagh committed an error from the start when they knocked on the kick off. This enabled the home team to immediately exert pressure. 
Within the first couple of minutes of play the beautify scenery was forgotten when a communication error in the Armagh backs gifted the Connemara winger a simple interception which he grabbed and touched down under the Armagh posts. The home out half converted to open the scoring at 7-0. Just three minutes later saw another calamity when the home number 8 took advantage of some weak tackling and touched down for another try. The conversion went wide but these gifts put the score at 12-0.
Not to be out done Armagh responded from the restart with a magnificent try in the right corner by Andrew Willis. The conversion went wide but with the scoreboard at 12-5 within six minutes play this promised a high scoring game. Calamity struck again after 25 minutes play when a Connemara flanker charged down a loose clearance kick and scored under the Armagh posts. The conversion put the score to 19-5. Just before the half time break Armagh were caught off side and another 3 points were added to the score. 
From the restart Armagh won possession from a line out and employed a rolling maul to gain 20 metres ground and this enabled Tinus van Wyk to score a try. Yet again, the conversion went wide as did a penalty 5 minutes later. Armagh’s number 8, Faloon made a strong break up the centre but a handling error was enough to take the pressure off Connemara. Yet, another mix up in the Armagh backs gave possession to the home team and when the visitors were caught off side the exasperation on the faces of Armagh team was obvious! This infringement cost another three points putting the score to 25-10. Shortly after the restart, Connemara’s full back took advantage of another interception and scored under Armagh’s posts. The conversion brought the score up to 32-15. All appeared to be going wrong for Armagh. All through the game the home team’s high penalty count was beginning to become ever more prevalent and this eventually broke the referee’s patience and their no.17 was ‘sin-binned’.
Armagh’s captain forced his way over to score on the left wing. The conversion went wide again but with the score at 32-20, all seemed lost. Indeed it was confirmed when Armagh were awarded a penalty just to the left of the Connemara posts and the resultant kick shaved the wrong side of the posts. Although the home side had another player yellow carded the out half scored a cheeky drop goal to underline their victory. Armagh finished off the game on a higher note by exerting some pressure on Connemara when winger, Andrew Willis, went round his opposite number and touched down in the right corner only to have the try disallowed when he appeared to stray into touch.
The final moments of the game were marred when a Connemara centre went down with a suspected neck injury. He was taken to hospital but the injury was later diagnosed as a harmless muscle spasm,
The 35-20 could well have been somewhat different if Armagh had kicked any of the four conversions or landed the two penalties. The two interceptions and the charge-down can only be described as gifts to Connemara. To play all the rugby and yet only come away with a single bonus point is disappointing.
Following the game the team were unanimous in their praise for the sound vocal support shown by the large number of club members who travelled the 260 odd mile to cheer on their team.
It has to be said that Armagh do play a very attractive style of rugby and every one of their defeats, this season, have been very close calls! That is to say, if they had experienced the shallowest bit of luck they could have won the lot! Since they secured that final try they left Clifden with a bonus point and are still secured in a mid league position. When all is said and done this can not be frowned at since this is Armagh’s first season after returning to senior rugby.
