City of Armagh First XV travelled to Dublin on Saturday to play a very strong Terenure side who were top of the table after 4 rounds of the Energia AIL. Armagh had a couple of changes to the side that went down to UCD. Griffin Philipson will be out for a while and he was replaced by Niall Carville, Neil Faloon went to the bench which meant a shuffle in the back row. Barry Finn came in at openside with Sam Glasgow going to blind side and James McNabney going into No 8. In the backs, Evin Crummie got a start at 10 with Rocky Olsen going onto the bench. Andrew Willis came in for Mathew Hooks who was concussed last week.
Armagh have only played Terenure twice in their history, going down 29-13 last December in Dublin and 37-13 at home in the reverse fixture. So a big performance was needed and this is what we got.
Playing against a strong breeze, McNabney received the kickoff and got past the first couple of tacklers to lay the ball back for Finlay. His box kicking was spot on in the main and the kick chase was good. This forced Terenure on to the back foot and they started to get on the wrong side of the referee. At the second penalty in front of the posts for holding on, Kyle Faloon chipped over to leave Armagh 3-0 up with 7 minutes gone. As always seems to happen, the restart was knocked on and Terenure were given some encouragement. Their scrum half, Fintan Gunne, a Leinster academy player, made a lovely break and linked up with his left winger, Adams who scored in the corner to make it 5-3 to Terenure after 8 minutes. A third penalty for a high tackle enabled Faloon to get Armagh back into the lead and 6-5 to Armagh. On 14 minutes, a fine clearance kick by Evin Crummie bounced awkwardly and Nelson gathered the bouncing ball to sprint in for a welcome try which Faloon converted. Kyle was then penalised for going off his feet and Terenure exerted a lot of pressure. A driving maul was held up and Crummie was able to clear his line with a goal line drop out. To their credit Armagh were running everything with Sam Cunningham and Sam Berman causing all sorts of trouble for the Terenure defence. Unlike last week, Armagh’s discipline was excellent and the penalty count against Terenure was really high. After they had given away four penalties in a row, Armagh kicked to the corner and their rolling maul was brought down illegally for referee Davidson to award a penalty try on 30 minutes. The restart was taken magnificently by McNabney and with all his forwards carrying well into contact, Terenure struggled to get a foothold in the game. A great steal in a tackle from Carville put Armagh back in the driving seat. They had a stroke of luck then when a poor off load was knocked on. The scrum awarded to Armagh wheeled slightly and Carville was able to pressurise his opponent to giving away their 9th penalty of the first 40 minutes. Kyle stroked the ball over to further increase Armagh’s lead to 23-5. No one could believe the effort that Armagh made in that first half.
Half time Terenure 5 City of Armagh 23
Terenure were not All Ireland league champions 2 years ago for nothing and the expected fight back came early in the second half with Armagh under a lot of pressure. The team lost a bit of their discipline and started to give away penalties. A tap penalty under the Armagh posts had Armagh under pressure and after some heroic defence, the weight of numbers led to Harrison Brewer going over for a try close to the posts making the score 23-12. Another penalty in the middle of the park was awarded against McNabney for a tip tackle. Surprisingly Terenure didn’t find touch and Crummie was able to clear. Great defensive tackles from Cunningham and McNeice stemmed the flow of Terenure attacks, but a smart break by Leinster fly half, Casper Gabriel opened Armagh’s defence and he linked for Adams to score his second try. The scoreline with 15 minutes to go was Terenure 19 Armagh 23. Armagh were now beginning to lose concentration and Terenure went into a 26-23 lead when their left winger, McErlean went in for the bonus point try. Armagh changed their hooker when Jonathan Morton, doing a lot of unseen work took a knock and was replaced by Jack Reaney. Jack has not played much at this level and had a couple of poor lineout throws but was busy around the park. Both he and Neil Faloon, on for John Glasgow, were making real nuisances of themselves. The pressure was increasing on Terenure and they started to give away penalties. From a kick into the corner, the Armagh maul which had been very effective was deemed to have been held up. Not to be denied, Armagh really upped the pressure in the last 10 minutes. They even had the opportunity on a couple of occasions to draw the game and to go home with 2 points. While all their supporters were advising them to kick the equalising penalty, the Armagh management team had the courage to go for either a scrum or the corner. When the ball was moved left with the Terenure defence scarce, Rocky Olsen on for Crummie couldn’t find Andrew Willis on the wing with his thirty metre pass. Everyone thought that was it. They had blown their chances. Not to be denied though, Captain, Lewis Finlay continued to prod for openings. A great switch inside had James McNabney powering for the line. When he was stopped 5 metres out, his forwards kept probing. Despite calls from the home supporters for knock-ons and other infringements, Armagh kept their patience and Niall Carville burrowed over for the match winning try. Olsen chipped over the conversion to leave the final score Terenure 26 City of Armagh 30.
For his overall performance, James McNabney was awarded the Armagh player of the match but all 22 players played their part in what was perhaps one of City of Armagh’s most famous results. Well done all, players management and spectators, a day to remember.
Head coach Chris Parker was delighted at the commitment of the side and remarked that the discipline in the first half was excellent, only giving away one penalty. The second half showed that if you are 1 or 2 per cent off, you will be punished by good sides in Division 1A. The character and resilience shown by the team was phenomenal but it has to be backed up by another top class performance against Cork Constitution, the current AIL champions, in the team’s next fixture.
