City of Armagh U16s travelled to the Meadowbank Sports Arena in Magherafelt to play Letterkenny in the final of the Ulster Plate competition. It turned out to be a brilliant game played between two very competitive teams, in very poor weather conditions.<\/p>\n
Armagh played against the wind in the first half and initially were under some early pressure which resulted in Letterkenny taking the lead with a penalty kick. For the rest of the half, Armagh played some excellent rugby. Some great carries from the forwards created space for the backs. The Orchard County side then \u00a0took the lead with a flowing backline move, resulting in Ben Hawthorne scoring under the posts. He converted his own try for Armagh to lead 7-3. Armagh then scored a second try shortly after with some hard carries by Fiontann Loughrann and Kyle Nesbitt. This created space on the edge and a lovely offload from Padhraic Barrett saw Cormac Rowe cross for the score. City of Armagh now led 12-3 but Letterkenny responded at the end of the first half with a super individual try by their No 8, Emre Gercek.<\/p>\n
Halftime scoreline, City of Armagh 12, Letterkenny 10<\/p>\n
Letterkenny started the second half on top and played some brilliant rugby, scoring two quick tries through Ronan McFadden to take the lead, 12-20. It looked like Armagh were dead and buried, but in fairness to this group of young men, they are nothing but resilient. They have fought hard all season and they were not going to let this one go without a fight. Some hard carries by Charlie Walker and Noah McClenahan got Armagh back into the game and Padhraic Barrett scored the team\u2019s third try. With the scoreline 17-20, Armagh continued to attack and were rewarded with a fourth try, scored and converted by Ben Hawthorne. Armagh were now ahead, 24-20 and this was a lead they had to defend with fourteen men for the final 5 minutes due to a team yellow card. Letterkenny pushed for a winning score but the Armagh men prevailed with a strong defensive set to win a superb game between two evenly matched teams.<\/p>\n
Final scoreline, City of Armagh 24, Letterkenny 20<\/p>\n\n\t\t