Crucial derby date beckons

FOLLOWING Saturday’s hard-fought 13-11 Energia All-Ireland League Division 1B victory over Malone at Gibson Park, City of Armagh host the same opponents at the Palace Grounds this weekend.

Saturday’s Ulster derby win against the East Belfast men has taken Armagh to within a point of leaders, Buccaneers, with the top of the table showing each of the pair as having won seven of their nine matches to date.

Buccs have 34 points to Armagh’s 33, with that slender lead ironically attributable to the losing bonus point they gained as a result of their narrow 22-20 defeat at the hands of te City side when the pair went head to head at the Palace Grounds on October 1.

With that having been the opening match of their respective 2022/23 campaigns, it means they are scheduled to clash again in the final fixture of the programme-proper on April 14, this time at Dubarrry Park, Athlone, where the prize for that day’s winners may well end up being promotion to Division 1A, the top tier of club rugby in Ireland.

Were Armagh to achieve that, it would be a quite remarkable story given the lowly position in which they found themselves in the not too distant past.

That said, the story of Buccaneers is a pretty remarkable one, too, having won the Energia AIL Division 2A title in dramatic fashion last season thereby gaining promotion at the expense of Queen’s University who were only a conversion away from an upgrade.

From 2A to 1A in a one-season bound would be an incredible feat.

Once again under the tutelage of Eddie O’Sullivan, the Pirates have been punching way above what was considered to be their weight, for in addition to that opening day defeat by Armagh, the Athlone side’s only other reversal so far came on December 10 when they went down 24-21 to Naas – one of only three wins the Forenaghts men have managed

Buccaneers’ points scored and conceded statistics dwarf those of Armagh – plus 128 to plus 26 respectively.

Which is why, as well as continuing to win matches, Armagh must strive to clock up bonuses – not least against opponents like Malone who are on the bottom one of the Division 1B ladder's dozen allegorical rungs with 12 points, one less than 11th placed Banbridge (13).

With things between Armagh and Buccaneers being as close as they are, the accumulation of bonus points could be decisive. That being the case, the Timothy McNiece-captained locals will be disappointed at their failure to put bottom-dwellers like those two Ulster rivals to the figurative sword more decisively.

They just pipped Bann by a three-point margin – 10-7 at Rifle Park on November 12 and Malone by a mere two on Saturday past.

Compare that with Buccaneers’ results against the same sides – 35-18 against Malone in Belfast on November 5 and 44-13 against Banbridge at Dubarry Park at the start of December. Both big, bonus-point victories.

Whilst acknowledging the importance of such results, Armagh skipper McNiece points to the reality that derby meetings seldom end in emphatic winning margins. Instead they tend to be tense, aggressive, no-holds-barred affairs in which pride plays a huge part, ditto determination not to be humiliated.

And with once-mighty Malone now fighting for survival at this level, he knows they will be doubly motivated to scrap for every point between now and the end of the season, starting on Saturday at the Palace Grounds, for nowhere will self-respect be more evident than in their encounters with fellow-provincial opponents.

McNiece told the Gazette, “They certainly gave us a game on Saturday, though we were nothing like our best, probably because we’d two matches postponed due to frozen pitches and so looked a wee bit off it.

“And having given us a run for our money, I’d imagine they’ll be feeling good about themselves. As well as that they’ll probably have a few Ulster squad players available, so they’ll certainly be up for it.

“But so will we,” he added tellingly.