City of Armagh returned from Cork for the second time this season with 5 precious points when they convincingly beat University College Cork 24 -34 at the Mardyke. This is the fourth time that Armagh have played UCC with a narrow defeat in Cork in October 2022, 15-14. The referee that day was Dermot Blake and remarkably he was in control of the game on Saturday.
Armagh got revenge in the return fixture that season 24-20, but we all remember the relegation play off last April when the Armagh side, wrecked with injuries lost out 17-10 against a stacked UCC team. Last Saturday, UCC had 3 academy players in their ranks, Ben O’Connor at full back, Gene O’Leary-Karem on the wing and the massive Sean Edogbo in the back row. Armagh had only James McCormick released from Ulster and he gave a man of the match performance. Rory McGuire was not available, so Griffen Philipson made his first start of the season. In the backs Shea O’Brien was not available so Tim McNeice went to full back and Ross Taylor came off the bench to partner Rocky Olsen.
UCC kicked off in breezy conditions and immediately put Armagh under pressure. The defence held out only for five minutes when, with the back line stretched, O’Connor, the Irish under 20 fullback went in for an early try converted by O’Shea. Armagh got back into the game 7 minutes later when they were awarded a penalty try after UCC infringed a couple of times, allowing a dominant lineout maul to drive over to the line. A yellow card to UCC resulted.
UCC got back into the game from a penalty which O’Shea converted for 10-7. As a result of Niall Carville tackling the attacking player within five metres, he spent 10 minutes in the sinbin. Further setbacks occurred around the 20 minute mark, when Ross Taylor went off with a hamstring injury and Rocky Olsen went off with an injured ankle with Danny Guy and Luke McCall coming on as replacements. UCC continued to get on the wrong side of the referee and gave away several more penalties as they were under pressure from the dominant Armagh pack. The visitors then put in a series of drives close to the UCC line and for the second week in a row, Noah Bell crossed for a well-deserved try. O’Kane converted to but Armagh into the lead,10-14 just before the interval, O’Connor scored a second converted try for UCC to retake the lead, 17-14, as the whistle blew for half-time.
The second half commenced and the Armagh pack went on to dominated both scrums and lineouts. James McCormack was able to find John Glasgow, Josh McKinley and Thomas Dougan, which put UCC on the back foot. He was then at the back of another lineout maul for his second try of the game to put Armagh back in the lead, with O’Kane converting. Outhalf Owen O’Kane’s kicking found touch regularly and he was also able to find space when a kick to touch would be of little impact.
UCC were pinned in their own half for much of the second period. Armagh then getting on top in the scrums sensed a fourth try was possible and the experience of Josh McKinley enabled him to barge over for the bonus point try.
Armagh’s discipline was good for most of the game, but they gave away two consecutive penalties for high tackles, and a crossfield kick left Danny Guy having to compete with a much taller Gene O’Leary-Karem, who plucked the ball out of the air to score in the corner.
The conversion reduced the deficit to 24-28 in Armagh’s favour and the visitors ran out winners when Owen O’Kane calmly slotted over two late penalties to leave the final score 24-34. More importantly, the 2 penalties denied UCC a losing bonus point and elevated Armagh to third in the league, having won 5 of their 8 games to date.
