Eagles swoop down on Armagh

DROMORE’S Mini Academy travelled to Armagh on Saturday 26 January. Cold and damp conditions met the brave band of Eagles.

P7s started sluggish and were well beaten by an aggressive Armagh pack that seemed to spread the ball to the wings.

A rousing talk from coach Jeremy Ogle and Sean Duffy rallied the boys who from the kick off scored under the posts.

After the re-start James Duffy caught the ball, side-stepped three players and deftly passed the ball to Ross Stewart who still had three quarters of the pitch to negotiate before he scored a memorable try. Other scorers on the day were Josh Potts and James Duffy. Well played all concerned.

The P6 team played well in both their matches. Tries from Xander Lowham and Brandon Watson secured a win in both games.

Super running and passing from Scott Wilson and Bradley Stevenson helped Dromore to overcome a well-drilled Armagh side but excellent tackling and defensive skills from Dromore’s new batch of players stopped them gaining any momentum.

The P5 team, who were under strength due to the flu bug, stepped up to the mark and defeated the Armagh side. Some players worthy of note were Kyle Beckett, who has been pushed up from the P4 team, and James Gault who, with his side step and fast pace, allowed others to score.

Both of Dromore’s P4 teams seemed quite rusty when they ran out on Saturday after a few weeks off.

Armagh started well and ran in quite a few tries with Dromore not really being in the right mindset.

However they gradually began to find their feet with Nathan Hook, Ben, Jack Porter, Cormack all running in some excellent tries.

Joshua Hanna and Ben put in some very heavy mauling work to provide possession while Daniel Porter, Jack Porter, and Ewan did some exceptional tackling.

Jack Porter’s tackling was so vigorous that he repeatedly caused his opposite number to cough up the ball, leading to at least two Dromore tries.

The best and most rampant team in the Youth and Mini Academy were the P3s who scored at will this must be down to the excellent coaching from Phillip Sandra Emma and Clare who are lead by that old stalwart and rugged rugby coach Mark Robinson.

Too many names to remember for the reporter on the hill to remember but I’m sure your coaches will give you all the praise you need back at Barban Hill this Saturday.