Armoy RFC miss out on 40th anniversary glory
With tensions riding high, Armoy played some of the best rugby in recent years against a well drilled and noticeably bigger team.
The Limepark men dominated the territory but a mixture of nerves and stages of being over zealous meant two real try scoring opportunities were missed which would have taken the game in a different momentum. An evenly contested battle took both teams into half time three points each with Armoy points coming from the boot of Craig Nesbitt.
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Hide AdIn the second half Donaghadee took advantage of the wind and pinned the Armoy team into their own twenty two and were able to capitalise on a few overlaps and also a penalty to go to 18-3 up.
Winger Gordon McConaghie was given the ball in the dying moments to run most of the pitch for a deserved consolation try, converted by Barry Kelly. The match concluded 18-10 to Donaghadee.
Although the result was disappointing, many positives can be taken from a great hard fought match.
Mark Donald, Armoy captain said:“The team put their bodies on the line and everyone of them gave 100%, I couldn’t have asked for more and I’m proud of our performance.
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Hide Ad“To reach an Ulster final is a massive achievement for our small club and the amount of support that we had was testament to that. I would like to thank everyone for coming to cheer us on.
“I’d also like to thank all players, committee members and supporters for everything this season and I look forward to seeing Armoy build on this next year.”
A special mention must go to Tom Christie who after 40 years played his last game on Saturday.
Tom played in Armoy’s first ever match and he is a man who can only be described as an icon of everything rugby is about. Everyone is immensely grateful for everything he has done for the club.
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Hide AdArmoy celebrate their 40th year on Saturday with an end of season dinner at the Hedges with 150 guests attending. There’s a lot happening at Armoy with a Biggest Loser, four qualified mini rugby coaches and family fun days planned for the summer.