Clogher Valley 2nd XV 14 City of Armagh 3rd XV 7
Saturday 8th January 2022
Report by Trevor Knipe

City of Armagh Thirds made the journey to Clogher Valley to take on their second fifteen in a top of the table clash on Saturday, filled with hope and enthusiasm but expecting a tough encounter. Andy Brady’s side had a few enforced changes with Rainey joining McCall and Johnston in the front row and Gareth Megaw at number 8 for James McCall who could not play but was there to help from the sidelines. Aaron Woods was on the wing and captain Brady played at outside centre.
Armagh kicked off in atrocious conditions with rain, sleet and a strong cross wind combined with a wet sticky pitch not permitting the Armagh side to play the open flowing rugby which has been a feature of their game all season. The Valley pack were clearly better suited to the conditions and made their weight advantage, along with the speed of their back row, something of a challenge for Armagh. Despite this, Armagh held their own well into the first half before David O’Hagan was sinbinned for what the referee, Robert Johnston, judged to be a deliberate knock on. The half concluded scoreless.

The second half commenced with Clogher Valley using their man advantage to the full and secured a try close to the right touchline. The difficult conversion was successful and the home side took a 7-0 advantage in the first few minutes of the second half which continued much as the first. The Armagh players however were unable to complete enough phases to break the Clogher defence.
A breakthrough however came from some slack Clogher Valley defence when Con Oliver broke through on their 22 and fed the ball to James Johnston who made some hard yards before returning the ball to Oliver who crossed the line from 10 metres for a fabulous try under the posts. David O’Hagan kicked the conversion to level the match at 7-7.

Andrew Morton came off the bench for RJ McCall who retired injured and Frazer-Smith and Steenson replaced Mulgrew and Sam Shephard who had suffered a blow to his cheek in the first half but played on well into the second. With just ten minutes to go, Clogher Velley broke the Armagh defensive line once more and scored a second converted try for a 14-7 lead which, despite the efforts of every Armagh player, they held to the final whistle.
The match was played in great spirit but despite suffering their first defeat of the season, a losing bonus point helps maintain Armagh’s position at the top of Provincial Premier League Division 2.

City of Armagh Team: S Rainey, R J McCall, J Johnston, S Morton, C Oliver,
M Mulgrew, R Finlay, G Megaw, T Girvan, A Winder, A Woods, S Shephard, A Brady, D Reynolds, D O’Hagan, A Frazer-Smith, M Steenson, A Morton.