City of Armagh RFC First XV got back on the winning trail with a comprehensive 47-33 win at home to Naas. With the team having a week off, they were able to put out a fairly strong side. They were still missing regulars like Jonny Morton, Paul Mullen, Evin Crummie and Glenn Faloon, but Nick Murray came back to partner Owen O’Kane at half back with Rocky Olsen getting a starting position in the centre with Timmy McNeice. Played in good conditions, Naas started off well with an early try by their fullback when a couple of tackles were missed. The conversion gave them a 7-0 lead after 5 minutes.
Armagh got back in the game with a typical James McCormick try after a lineout maul. O’Kane’s conversion from out wide hit the post. The home side then extended their lead following a great break from Curtis Pollock and Noah Bell was on his shoulder to score close to the posts and O’Kane converted. Armagh continued to keep the scoreboard ticking when Nick Murray was on the shoulder of Olsen who had made a terrific break. Nick had a spectacular dive over under the posts and O’ Kane tapped the conversion over. The home side were not finished and after a number of forward drives, the ball was released to Rocky who put Shea O’Brien in for the bonus point try. City of Armagh were in the driving seat now, 26-7 ahead.
There could have been more scores in the first half for the home team, with McCormick judged to have been held up over the line and a knock on over the line, when it looked easier to score. On the stoke of halftime, Naas narrowed the gap when their centre picked up an interception from halfway to get their second converted try.
Halftime City of Armagh 26 Naas 14.
This gave Naas some encouragement in the second half and they narrowed the gap further with another quick score, with a player cutting through on the angle to make the scoreline 26-21. The Armagh lineout was working well and from another catch and drive, James McCormick went over for his second try. O’Kane converted and once more there was some daylight between the sides, 33-21. Another interception enabled Naas to stay in the game, 33-28. McCormick would have had his hat trick but Naas collapsed a lineout maul and a penalty try resulted. At 40-28, Naas wouldn’t give up and made the small but nervous Armagh home support long for the final whistle with another Naas try to bring the scores close again at 40-33.
Armagh saw the final few minutes out introducing Andrew Willis from the bench for his 208th AIL performance. Andy has been a real servant to the club starting in mini rugby with his pal Philip Fletcher and progressing right through the club to become one of the leading try scorers and indeed winning a record number of AIL caps. Whether anyone else will be able to match this is doubtful. He received a tremendous reception as he had announced that this was his last game for the club as his body is starting to tell him that at 35 the hits are getting too severe.
One player who has also been a great servant to Armagh is Josh McKinley and he finished off Armagh’s scoring with a typical forwards try, barging his way over to leave the final score, 47-33. This was by far their best performance of the season so far with the forwards laying a platform in both scrum and lineout. In the back row, John Glasgow, Curtis Pollock and Thomas Dougan made all the hard yards giving a good platform for the half backs Murray and O’Kane. Rocky Olsen perhaps had his best performance in an Armagh shirt and possibly outside centre is his best position enabling him to show his running skills. This result puts Armagh in the top 4 of the league but they have two tough games coming up. Firstly, a long trip to Cork this week to play UCC and the Ulster derby the following week against Instonians.
