Seconds Continue winning Run
The seconds travelled to Coleraine to play the local 1st xv in another conference league game knowing that this was the first of two consecutive games with Coleraine in two weeks. Coleraine will be the visitors to the Palace grounds next week in a Junior cup quarter final tie. The game kicked off in overcast but dry conditions with Armagh getting into their stride immediately with the forwards winning ball and the backline probing the Coleraine defensive line. One of several early Coleraine infringements led to a converted penalty by Harvey Young on 4 minutes, 3-0 to Armagh. Coleraine missed a straight forward penalty opportunity then shortly after from an Armagh lineout on the home 10 metre line, Holden saw a gap and made a great break through the first line of Coleraine’s defence to put Young in the clear for a try at the posts. He added the conversion to make the score 10-0 to the visitors. The Armagh forward unit were tackling like demons and Coleraine’s big ball carriers did not gain the momentum they had hoped for. Young accepted another penalty opportunity from 35 metres to stretch the Armagh lead to 13-0. In the second half Coleraine immediately took play deep into the Armagh half and only a determined defensive effort kept the line intact. Holden and Young kept orchestrating the backline and when an attacking move took play into the Coleraine half, Young make a break from 30 metres and touched down to the right of the posts. With his successful conversion, the score was 20-0 with 15 minutes to play. Despite being down to 13 players in the second half for a period of time due to 2 yellow cards, Armagh battled for every ball and continued to defend their line. Near the final whistle, Coleraine continued to press and after sustained forward pressure near the try line, a home second row forward stretched over beside the posts for a converted try. This lifted the home crowd who were hoping for a big finish from Coleraine to narrow the gap, however Armagh battened the hatches to close out the game. The final score was Armagh 20, Coleraine 7.