City of Armagh RFC 1st xv recorded an excellent win 26-5, against a gritty University College Cork side coached by Tomas O’Leary, the ex-Ireland scrum half. When the sides met six weeks ago, Armagh had a comprehensive win 34-24 in Cork, but Armagh have gathered a mountain of injuries since then and it was a completely different side out for the home game, with 10 different players in the 22 man squad.
Noah Bell was slightly injured as was Griffin Philipson, Josh Mc Kinley was skiing and 4 backs missing Rocky Olsen, Ross Taylor, Timmy Mc Neice and Josh Cunningham were all injured. In fact, there are 26 players missing at present through injury. UCC were missing a few of their own with O’Connor on Munster duties and Charlie O’Shea and Christopher Barrett in the Irish under 20s squad.
In blustery conditions UCC kicked off and with the amount of rain flooding a number of pitches, the Palace Ground’s main pitch was immaculate. Armagh made a mess of the kick off and had to withstand really heavy pressure from the UCC team determined to move the ball. Armagh’s defence in the first 20 minutes was outstanding though and time and time again, both forwards and backs threw themselves at their opponents to not let them breach their line. There was another blow for Armagh when Rory McGuire making his first appearance in 6 weeks dislocated his left shoulder and had to leave the field. The ever-reliable Phil Fletcher took his place and showed that he has still got the power in the scrum, winning a couple of penalties.
Armagh got on the scoreboard after 10 minutes when 2 lineout takes and mauls enabled James McCormick to add to his 7th try this season. When he gets close to the line, he is impossible to stop and he cleverly darted over in the corner to score. Owen O’Kane converted brilliantly to leave Armagh 7-0 up. Again, a mess was made of the restart when John Glasgow was penalised for blocking. A great tackle from Shea O’Brien saved a certain try when the dangerous UCC three quarters moved the ball quickly.
Armagh certainly had the upper hand in the scrums and after they threatened close in, the ball was moved left to Archie Johnston on the wing. The young winger had the pace and strength to squeeze in at the corner for an excellent score but O’ Kane failed with this kick. With 30 minutes gone, the scoreline was Armagh 12 UCC 0. At this stage Armagh were pulverising UCC in the forwards and their impressive openside Nowak was yellow carded for stripping the ball illegally in the tackle. It was all Armagh now and Mc Cormick added a second score again through a maul. Remarkably this was his 9th try in 7 appearances this season. Owen converted to leave the score 19-0 at half time. Not only is this a fine contribution, but his lineout throwing is spot on and his work rate around the park impressive.
Armagh did not take long to acquire their 4th try and a bonus try point when after a rather scrappy lineout, Conor Neary spotted weak ruck defence and sprinted through for an individual try. O’Kane converted to leave the scores 26-0 in Armagh’s favour. To be fair UCC continued to fight hard and made Armagh continually rely on their maul defence on occasion. The intensity of the game continued with Armagh determined to keep the score 0 for UCC. They were forced though to make a couple of changes when Cameron Cummings hurt his knee and Phil Fletcher was replaced by Jonny Morton. It is a long time since Jonny played loosehead, but as usual he acquitted himself well. Finn Fenhert then came on to replace the excellent Curtis Pollock and James Morton replaced Neary. Nick Murray slightly in the wars, then went to the right wing with Danny Guy going to scrumhalf for the last few minutes. Whether concentration dipped or a bit of fatigue crept in, referee Peter Martin started to penalise Armagh frequently. James Morton was lucky to evade a yellow card for 2 high tackles, but James Anderson got one for delaying in a ruck. UCC kept going and then Nick Murray was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on. With only 13 players on the pitch, Armagh became stretched and Nowak got in for a consolation score in the last minute.
This was an impressive win with everyone playing their part. The front row of Carville, McCormick and Fletcher imposed themselves in the scrum and were also prominent in the loose. Both second rows had good games with John Glasgow taking a lot of good lineout ball. Neary took his try well and was busy about the pitch. The backrow covered every blade of grass with Thomas Dougan also featuring in the lineout. Curtis Pollock and James Anderson got a couple of turnovers as did half backs Murray and O’Kane. Nick was busy about the pitch and his box kicking was first class. O’Kane linked well with his three quarters and his line and place kicking were again on the money. Centres, Hooks and Cummings tackled like demons with Cameron showing his opponents a clean pair of heels on occasion. Wingers, Willis and Johnston were prominent in the tackle and Johnston worked hard for his try. Fullback and captain, O’Brien is back at his best, quietly encouraging his team and communicating well with the referee. The six substitutes all played their part when called on and kept up the pressure in defence and attack.
A comprehensive win then which takes City of Armagh up to 4th place in the league table. For his all-round performance for the whole 80 minutes, prop Niall Carville was awarded man of the match
