City of Armagh RFC 2nd XV 55​Ballymena RFC 2nd XV 15

Second XV League​​​​​Saturday 26th September 2020
Report by Adrian Irvine
City of Armagh Seconds hosted their counterparts from Ballymena at the Palace Grounds on Saturday in the opening fixture of the rescheduled Second XV League. The team were confident they could achieve a victory as the First XV had done the previous Friday evening at Eaton Park.
With the wind at their backs, Ballymena kicked off the first half. After 6 mins, a discretion by Armagh just outside their 22, allowed outhalf, McClean to slot over a simple penalty for the visitors to take the lead. From there on it became apparent that when Ballymena had the ball they were happy to carry for hard yards. Once the ball was turned over however, they could not live with the speed and accuracy of Armagh’s play. First try of the game came soon after the Ballymena score, with right wing Dylan Nelson touching down. As the game entered the second quarter, Armagh’s confidence grew and with clean recycling and free off-loading, another try ensued, scored by outhalf, Harry Boyd. Not to be outdone, Armagh’s next try came from their pack, scored by Willie Faloon, the senior coach making a welcome return to action on the pitch.
The best score of the game then followed after a Ballymena scrum in their own twenty-two was turned over and quick hands saw winger, Kyle Faloon score in the corner. The first half ended with the Ballymena scrum half intercepting the ball in his own twenty-two, only to be taken down in the Armagh twenty-two by fullback Glen Faloon and the ball going out of play.
Two minutes into second half, number 8, Ryan Finlay scored for Armagh to stretch their lead. Another successful conversion was kicked Harry Boyd and shortly after, centre, Josh Morton crossed for another try for Armagh after some very slick handling. Despite being well behind on the scoreboard Ballymena remained a threat and were rewarded with a try by their hooker. Any hope of a recovery from Ballymena was quickly snuffed out when within two minutes of the restart, Dylan Nelson beat three defenders to dot down under the posts. Another try from Nelson on the wing soon followed which started from a scrum penalty just inside the Ballymena half.
Back came Ballymena and from some hard driving runs from their forwards, the narrow Armagh defence allowed the Ballymena hooker an easy run in for a consolation score. As the game moved into the final quarter, some excellent work by the Armagh pack in mid-field saw Willie Faloon break through and his off load to Nelson saw the winger again cross the whitewash for his fourth try of the day.
The game ended with Armagh Seconds in the ascendancy and the whistle blew with a final score, City of Armagh 55 Ballymena 15.