Following an absence of some 19 years the “Happy Hooker” fixture made a welcome return to the calendar as part of a series of events to mark City of Armagh Rugby Club’s 150th anniversary. On this occasion the opposition was in the form of Madden Raparees and we welcomed them to the Palace Grounds with their first team having recently been crowned Armagh Senior County Champions for the first time in their history. There was a great crowd of supporters who come out to support the event which was also a fundraiser for Evora Hospice Care, formerly the Southern Area Hospice.
The game was played under perfect autumnal conditions having been rescheduled from an earlier date owing to the storm. City of Armagh out-half, Trevor Girvan kicked off the match with the first half being rugby.
City of Armagh raced into an early lead scoring four unconverted tries through back row forward Rory McCreesh (2), Centre Pat Quigley and scrum-half Ben Harney. They came close on a few other occasions too, with a youthful debutant, Anthony McElmeel only inches away from scoring in the corner only to be bundled into touch.
It took the first ten to fifteen minutes for the Madden men to find their feet in a game that was unnatural to them, however when they had the ball, they looked dangerous and were making inroads into Armagh territory. They got their just rewards when their number eight, Ryan Mone made a breakthrough and rode a few stern tackles to touch down under the posts. The try was converted and suddenly it was game on!
City of Armagh responded with a further two unconverted tries from prop forwards Callum Maguire and Zander Brennan. Both tries went unconverted and extended City of Armagh’s lead to thirty points to seven with some five minutes remaining of the first half. The visitors Madden were still causing problems, with centre, Ciaran Grimley arguably coming the closest to scoring in the corner and Ronan Greene also being forced into touch. Madden did get the last score of the half through Ryan Mone, again in a similar move to his first try. He just couldn’t be stopped and scored under the posts. Ronan Grimley converted it as referee, Billy O’Gorman blew the half time whistle.
HALF TIME SCORE: City of Armagh RFC 30 v Madden Raparees GAC 14
A quick re-shuffle of the teams and a change of referee in Pearse Harney from the Pearse Og GAA club in Armagh and indeed no stranger to the Palace Grounds either, take up the whistle. As anticipated, the Raparees started to claw away at the deficit with a brace of goals from an unlikely source, in Ciaran Grimley who was operating at full forward and one from Caolan Quinn helping the cause. These scores were hard to come by with the City of Armagh defence holding up well most notably Lewis Hamilton and Adam Hume. A few inspired saves by goalkeeper Rory McCreesh also helped keep the game close and entertaining down to the last. Further points for the Raparees from Ronan Grimley (2), John Hughes, Cillian Mallon, Ronan Greene and Ryan Mone left the game almost level.
The Quigley brothers Kieran and Pat registered scores for City of Armagh following some trojan work around the middle of the park by Ashton Clarke and Darragh Lennon in particular. City of Armagh had a glorious chance to extend their lead with Ben Harney finding himself bearing down on goal only for the stand in Madden goalkeeper, Sean Comiskey to make a great save to deny him. With time almost up, City of Armagh were awarded a free just inside their own half and Pat Quigley from Tullysaran, stepped up and landed an almighty score to level the game. Referee Pearse Harney allowed one final attack for the Raparees however it amounted to nothing and the final whistle was blown to bring the curtain down on an entertaining game.
FULL TIME SCORE: City of Armagh RFC 33 v Madden Raparees GAC 33
Junior Vice-President, Trevor Knipe was on hand to present the trophy to representatives from both teams and to award the two Maxpresso Man of the Match Awards. The best Rugby player from Madden Raparees was awarded to Ryan Mone for his two fantastic scores while the best GAA player from City of Armagh was awarded to Pat Quigley. The teams came together for a rendition of “The Boys from the County Armagh” on the pitch before they joined up once more in the club house for some post-match celebrations. The game was played in great spirits and was thoroughly enjoyed by both sets of players and spectators alike. Here’s hoping this will become a more regular fixture again in the future.
