City of Armagh 3rd’s 33 City of Derry 2nd’s 5

City of Armagh Thirds avenged an early season away defeat at the hands of City of Derry Seconds with a magnificent 33-5 win at the Palace Grounds on Saturday. The win returns the Armagh side to second place in Provincial League Two, just a point behind next week’s opposition, Banbridge.
On a crisp clear day captain Andrew Brady elected to play into a stiff breeze in the first half. With the wind in their faces Armagh played the first 20 minutes in their own half fending off wave after wave of City of Derry attack. When they did break into opposition territory the Armagh front row players, Neil Lutton, Tim Henry and John Johnston made good yards with Tom Johnston, Willie Martin, Ross Finlay and Nick Jennings working round the fringes to work the ball up to the City of Derry 5m line. Referee Shane Doolan awarded two penalties which Armagh took as scrums. Their superiority in the scrum allowed number 8 Gareth Megaw to pick up and cross the whitewash. The conversion was missed but Armagh had a 5-0 lead. Five minutes later Armagh repeated the same manoeuvre but this time it was John Johnston who crossed and Andrew Knipe converted for 12-0.
The Armagh backline of Andrew Winder, Adam Magowan, Ruari Karlsen, Matthew Allen and Knipe received good clean ball from scrum half Trevor Girvan and Andrew Brady at fullback always looked assured. Armagh’s third try came in similar mode to the first two only this time it was flanker Jennings who made a great run to the line evading the defence. Again Knipe added the conversion and although the opponents struck back with a try Armagh finished the half twelve points in the lead 19-5
The second half was all Armagh with Kurtis Sherry, Dan Reynolds and Connor Simms coming on from the subs bench. Despite spirited defence by City of Derry, two more tries from Tom Johnston and Willie Martin, converted by Knipe, saw Armagh running out convincing winners 33-5 and looking forward to next week’s match at Banbridge.

Armagh team: N Lutton, T Henry, J Johnston, T Johnston, W Martin, R Finlay, N Jennings, G Megaw, T Girvan, A Winder, A Magowan, R Karlsen, M Allen, A Knipe, A Brady, C Simms, K Sherry, D Reynolds.
Try Scorers: J Johnston, T Johnston, W Martin, N Jennings, G Megaw
Conversions: A Knipe (4)