Garryowen kicked off in brilliant sunshine and immediately put Armagh under pressure. The defence held tight and referee Stuart Douglas gave Armagh a couple of relieving penalties. Owen O’Kane kicked well to touch and from the lineout and maul 5 metres out, there was little to stop McCormick and he went over after 10 minutes to touch down. O’Kane converted and Armagh were 7-0 up.
Armagh doubled their lead 20 minutes later when Owen O’Kane jinked his way through the Garryowen defence and off loaded to Fred Harris who went over under the posts. Owen chipped over the conversion to leave Armagh 14-0 up. Learning from their mistakes a couple of weeks ago, Armagh got another penalty 40 metres out and Owen stuck the ball with confidence to increase their lead to 17-0 at half time.
Garryowen came out with all guns blazing in the second half trying to get something from the game. Armagh’s defence though was very strong though with all the forwards putting in big hits and the backs closing down any space that was created. The game was played in good spirit but there were a couple of nasty incidents when the Garryowen second row Molloy was adjudged to have used a swinging arm and he was sent to the sin bin early in the second half. Generally speaking, Armagh’s discipline was good, but they were penalized on occasion for slightly high tackles and not releasing in the tackle. This allowed Garryowen to get a foothold in the game and despite Armagh holding out for a Garryowen maul, the ball was moved to centre Fitzgerald, and there was little that the Armagh centres could do 5 metres out. Alexander Wood, son of Keith Wood, kicked the conversion and Garryowen had got back into the game. This gave Garryowen encouragement and a few minutes later, Armagh supporters held their breath while referee and touch judge disallowed a try when a knock on was determined by the Garryowen player going over the line. By this time James Mc Cormick had retired with a stinger to the shoulder, and Finn Fenhert replaced him. Finn was prominent in the loose and had a couple of good drives from the maul and Garryowen overthrows in the lineout.
Armagh then emptied their bench with Gerard Treanor replacing Danny Guy. Gerard was only on for a few minutes but spotting an overlap he took a chance at tackling man and ball together, saving a certain try. For his trouble he had to leave the field as did the Garryowen player whom he tackled. Play then got a bit scrappy and with Josh Lowey and Dan Reynolds on, they had to scramble for the ball. Second row, Noah Bell was himself sin binned for a team yellow ten minutes from the end. With the game dying out, O’Kane put the final nail in the Garryowen coffin when he struck over a penalty a couple of minutes from the end. Good game management saw out a vital victory to gain Armagh 4 important points.
Overall, this was a good performance, especially in the first half. The scrums were steady with Carville, McCormick and Gayle putting in big shifts. Second rows John Glasgow and Noah Bell worked hard in all aspects of the game and the back row of Dougan, Anderson and Pollock were in middle of everything.
Half backs Guy and O’Kane combined well with Owen putting in a man of the match performance. His goal and line kicking were excellent. Centres, Hooks and Harris tackled well, with both threatening in attack. Wingers, Cunningham and Hamilton had a couple of good runs, with Hamilton in particular showing up well. Josh and his brother Sam tackled everything that moved. Sam got his 50th cap in this game as well. The bench played their part too with Karlsen being hard to get the ball off and Treanor’s tackle being appreciated by the home support.
By securing 4 points, Armagh moved up to 14 points in the league table after achieving 2 wins, one draw and 4 bonus points. They have now two weeks off until they travel to play Highfield in Cork at the end of the month.
