City of Armagh played a vital relegation playoff against University College Cork at the weekend. There were a number of important selection calls to be made with the huge amount of injuries over the last 3 months and even in the last game of the regular season, three more players were lost to the team. Lewis Finlay was out with concussion, Charlie Worth was also injured and Mathew Monaghan went off with a broken collar bone. Fortunately James Mc Cormack was released by Ulster, Ross Taylor was available after a couple of months working away from home and Connor Neary declared himself fit. Shea O’Brien came back to play his second game in 5 months. The biggest challenge for the selectors was to have someone slot into the scrum half position. James Hazelton answered that particular call.
Armagh have played UCC only twice in the last few years, losing 15-14 in the Mardyke in October 2022 but winning in the return leg on 1st April, 24-20. UCC made a good turnaround in their season with their impressive backs helping them to numerous try bonus points. Their team was bolstered by 5 Munster academy players, in Conor Ryan, Sam Edegbo, Michael Foy, Gene O’Leary Kareem and the impressive Ben O’Connor. Armagh had their job cut out for them. particularly in the backline. Josh Mc Kinley was also playing his 150th AIL league game whereas James Hazelton was playing his first.
UCC kicked off and the ball was fielded by Evan Crummie who many believe was taken out in the air but nothing was given. UCC kept up the pressure and eventually their impressive centre, Dan Squires went over for a converted try after 10 minutes. 7-0 down Armagh came back fighting and with Griffin Philipson now having another injury, Philip Fletcher came on to add a bit of weight to the scrum, winning a couple of penalties. When Armagh kicked to the corner their lineout was working well and James Mc Cormack was credited with the touchdown. Rocky Olsen converted to bring the scores level. Minutes later, UCC went back into the lead with another converted try. Probably what changed the game then was when captain Nigel Simpson who having a fine game, had to go off with a head injury following a high tackle. The impressive UCC back row Sean Edogbo got yellow when many thought it deserved red.
Half time Armagh 7 UCC 14.
There wasn’t much between the teams in the second half but with the lineout malfunctioning a little, Armagh reduced the score to 10-14 through an Olsen penalty. UCC were clearly under pressure but were able to wind the clock down and put the game slightly out of sight with a long range penalty after 70 minutes. Try as they may, Armagh couldn’t get that equalising score and even their maul nearly paid off when they drove UCC back 20 metres. When they then moved the ball, the UCC defence held out.
Final score City of Armagh 10 UCC 17.
So City of Armagh are relegated and UCC go into the playoff against Nenagh next week. Good luck to them as they were magnanimous in their win and really complimentary about Armagh and their set up. An emotional Chris Parker thanked his players and fellow coaches for their commitment and energy. He was proud of their performance on Saturday and could not fault the effort. It would be wrong to single out any player as all 23 gave their all. For James Hazelton to step up from the 4th xv was remarkable and showed true Armagh grit.
