Butler shield Round 1 – City of Derry 3s 10 – City of Armagh 4s 14
Saturday 8th January 2022
Report by Gareth Graham

City of Armagh 4s commenced their Butler Shield campaign on Saturday with a long journey to face City of Derry Third XV. Due to a number of injuries and illnesses the, Armagh side were only able to travel with 15 fully fit players, which added a further element of pressure onto the shoulders of the young side.
City of Derry won the toss and elected to kick off, with Armagh playing into the low lying sun in the first half. The strong wind blowing in from the river Foyle was also behind the Derry side. Both sides started the game strongly, thus letting everyone know that they were in for a dog fight of a game. Some very strong attacks from both sides were met with equally strong defences. Armagh were able to defend well right across the field with notable strong tackles made by young players, William Coleman and Lewis Hamilton.
On the 15 minute mark, City of Derry made a pulsating attack down the right flank with their winger being bundled into touch by Aron McKenna and Lewis Hamilton. With these two Armagh players still getting back to their feet, City of Derry took a quick lineout and their number 9 was able to touch down in the corner, despite a last ditch tackle from Gareth Graham. Derry missed the following conversion to leave the score at 5-0 to the home side.
With 25 minutes played, Armagh’s number 6, Michael Graham was able to rip the ball from a Derry attacker in the heart of midfield. Michael then proceeded to make a break down the left wing and the speedy Lewis Hamilton was in support to take the final pass from Michael. Lewis then used all of his pace to beat the Derry fullback and touchdown under the posts for David Loughran to add the conversion.
Halftime Score City of Derry 5 – City of Armagh 7
Armagh knew that City of Derry were going to come out fighting in the second half, so needed to up their intensity and work rate to keep the Derry attacks out. A very skilful grubber kick by makeshift Armagh second row Scott Armstrong progressed Armagh up to the Derry 5 metre line. With the usual impressive lineout jumping from Adam Hume, Armagh were able to keep the pressure on in the Derry half and were eventually rewarded with a turn over. After a few phases of stout carries by Armagh props, Patrick Chapman and Phil Gillespie, Armagh won a penalty on the Derry 5 metre line. Scrum half Gareth Graham took this quickly and touched down under the posts, however the ref adjudicated that Derry had held the ball up. From the resulting drop out, the ball was carried by Adam Hume who made good yards. Armagh possession was then recycled through some sturdy carries by the Armagh forwards and eventually Archie McAlpine crashed over for Armagh’s second try. Again the conversion was added by David Loughran to make the scoreline 14-5 to Armagh.
A skilful kicking game throughout the 80 minutes was played by Armagh outhalf, Rory McCreesh with fast chasing by David Loughran, Lewis Hamilton and William Coleman putting pressure on the Derry back 3 and forcing them to play in their half.
Some impressive running by Armagh’s fullback, Aron McKenna put major pressure on the wide defence of Derry. In the last few minutes of the game, a kick through resulted in Derry having to touch the ball down over their line and proceed with a dropout. In injury time, Derry had one final attack and despite the best defensive efforts of Armagh, with big hits being made by Kyle Gallagher, Derry’s number 6 Rhys Hughes crashed over the line in the final play of the game for a hard earned try. Their conversion fell just short of the posts and the referee blew the final whistle with City of Armagh Fourths securing a brilliant victory against the odds.
Final Score City of Derry 10 – City of Armagh 14
The Armagh Brewing Company man of the match was awarded to Daniel Ballantyne. In what was Daniels first start for Armagh ,he made strong carries all game along with multiple hard tackles and flawless lineout throwing.
Armagh’s next game will see them return to league action on Friday 14th January against Monaghan 2s, under the floodlights on the palace grounds. Kick-off is 7:30pm and all support is most welcome.
Armagh: P Chapman, D Ballantyne, P Gillespie, S Armstrong, A Hume, K Gallagher, M Graham, A McAlpine, G Graham ©, R McCreesh, L Hamilton, M Matier, W Coleman, , D Loughran, A McKenna, ,