Armagh Seconds Continue Winning Run
The seconds played Cooke on Saturday at the Palace grounds on an overcast but dry day with five changes to the side which defeated Ballyclare the previous week due to first fifteen call ups and unavailability. With the dry conditions the home side had an abundance of early possession only to commit numerous handling errors with the final pass going astray. On 13 minutes after good forward momentum, Stephen Morton took a pass and broke through some weak Cooke tackling to touch down midway out. Chris Cousins added the extras for a 7-0 lead. Shortly after, good ball carrying by Phil Matthews and Willie Martin led to the Captain again spotting a gap in the Cooke defence. Making good ground, he slipped the ball to David Spratt who outpaced the cover to score at the posts for a converted try, 14-0 to Armagh. Cooke had their share of the ball for the rest of the half and with play in the middle of the park, there was no further scoring. On the resumption the home side attacked from deep when Jonathan Morton made a superb break and then offloading to the supporting Pau Gimeno who in turn passed to Cousins who raced over from 40 metres for an unconverted try, 19-0. Cooke were finding it hard to gain any possession as the Armagh forwards were rampant with Stuart Hooks and Gareth McNeice surging forward continuously recycling ball. Good hands from centres Evin Crummie and John Faloon opened up a gap for Kyle Faloon to cross at the posts for a converted try, 26-0. The home team were in full flow by now with further tries from a 5 metre scrum when Hooks drove over and another after a break from deep by Shane McKeever putting Gimeno away on a run to the posts for a try. Both tries were converted by Cousins. Late on, a Cooke back row player picked off a loose pass from an Armagh 22 metre Lineout for a try with another try scored on the whistle after a defensive mix up. The final score was Armagh 40 Cooke 10. Although the game did not match the performance from the previous week, it was another bonus point win. The coaching staff will however have marked down areas for improvement with the Junior cup semi final coming up in two weeks time.