Armagh 3rd XV played just their second match at home this season and with the 1st and 2nd fifteens both away they hosted Ballymoney 2nd XV on the main pitch in front of a healthy crowd of spectators. The Armagh boys were keen to avenge a close defeat at Ballymoney three weeks earlier but with team captain Neill Lutton and others unavailable it was a changed side that took to the field with Connor Chapman and Andrew Fletcher propping and Paul Campbell at full back.

From the kick off Ballymoney applied real pressure forcing Armagh to concede several scrums to knock-ons and being camped inside their own 22m line. However the Armagh defence stood up to everything Ballymoney threw at them and some good attacking kicks from Trevor Girvan and Glen Faloon Armagh managed to clear their lines and on 9 minutes, against the run of play, stand-in captain Luke Crozier broke through the Ballymoney back line for an individual try under the posts. The conversion by Andrew Knipe gave Armagh a 7-0 lead.

Despite some ragged play and conceding a number of penalties Armagh’s defence was resolute and it was second row man Con Oliver who managed to break through from close range and feed Gareth Megaw for Armagh’s second try under the posts. The conversion brought the lead to 14 points.

From 25 minutes Armagh conceded a series of four penalties inside their own 22m line which Ballymoney took as scrums. Once again the Armagh second row, Con Oliver and Jordan Faloon with flankers Jack Gilpin and Connor Simms were aware of the danger points and kept the visitors at bay. Another clearing kick from Girvan relieved the pressure and allowed the Armagh forwards to work their way downfield and Con Oliver to score in his own right. Con must have been running on adrenalin, his wife having given birth to twins during the week.

Unfortunately Armagh continued to concede penalties and on 33 minutes the ref sent Glenn Faloon to the sin-bin for 10 minutes. This gave Ballymoney a chance to get back into the game and an unconverted try gave them 5 points in the closing stages of the half. But they then conceded a penalty for a deliberate knock on which was knocked between the posts by Knipe for a hard earned half time lead of 22-5.

Back on the field after half time it did not take Luke Crozier long to get back into his stride and some slick interchanges across the back line of Faloon, Jeff Dougan, Knipe, and Andrew Brady with fullback Paul Campbell and it was Luke who went over for the bonus point try. Another conversion by Knipe resulted in a growing 29-5 lead.

Armagh continued to attack but a turnover by Ballymoney and poor defensive tackling let them in for a converted try with 15 minutes to go to close the gap to 29-12.

The last fifteen minutes was all Armagh’s as Ballymoney began to run out of steam. Crozier led the next charge with a clearance kick to half way and a turnover by Con Oliver resulted in his second try. He wasn’t going to be stopped from 10 metres! And on 40minutes Jeff Dougan got another for a convincing 41-12 win. The subs, Matthew Kilic, Robert Strachan and Matthew Campbell came on at various stages through the match and all made an impact with Kilic showing great potential at hooker.

Try scorers:-
Luke Crozier (2)
Stuart Megaw
Con Oliver (2)
Jeff Dougan

Conversions:-
Knipe (4)