Armagh seconds played their Crawford cup semi final in Coleraine against the local thirds on Saturday. In sunny and warm conditions Armagh kicked off into the strong breeze. Coleraine collected the ball from the drop out and using the wind promptly dispatched it down into Armagh’s 22. With defensive kicking into the breeze very difficult, Coleraine now had an offensive lineout and with a clean catch and drive their forwards drove over at the posts for a seven pointer on 4 minutes.
This provided Armagh with a wakeup call and after receiving recycled ball from the forwards on the 10 metre line Robbie Faloon went on a jinking run beating several defenders. When tackled, the ball was kicked over the line and Simon Cuttle won the race to touch down for a try on 8 minutes. With Matthew Steenson’s conversion the score stood at 7 – 7. On fifteen minutes Willie Hill scored a try after a lineout in Coleraine’s 22 with a good catch and drive. The forwards were working well as a unit with the front row of Carlisle, Smyth and Richard Morton providing a solid platform in the scrums. Just before half time the home side scored a try in the corner after good support play to leave the score at 12 – 12. Coleraine kicked off to restart the game and immediately won the ball from the dropout. After several phases they touched down for a try far out to bring the score to 17 – 12. Armagh’s plan to use the wind to kick to the corners and play the game downfield wasn’t helped by the high penalty count against them and some wayward kicking. Eventually, after good work by the forwards Benny Lamb burst through to score at the posts with the conversion by Steenson Armagh led 19 – 17. With confidence rising Armagh again found themselves attacking in the home 22, however a switch move led to Simon Cuttle being high tackled 10 metres out. After a few handbags were swung the Coleraine fullback and Freddie were yellow carded and sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. Andrew Knipe moved to scrum half and some sharp thinking led to him taking a quick tap ball from the resulting penalty and forcing his way over at the posts. Steenson converted to give Armagh some breathing space at 26 – 17 with 10 minutes to play. Coleraine upped the ante again to score another try on 75 minutes, however Armagh were able to see the game out in Coleraine‘s 22. This performance needs to be vastly improved if Armagh are to achieve any success this season. Too often first up tackles were missed and poor ball retention and decision making at crucial times led to playing the game in the wrong areas of the pitch. The final will be played at Ravenhill on Easter Tuesday the 26th April against Coleraine 2s.
