On a cold, windy, but thankfully dry afternoon at Upritchard Park, Bangor’s young and developing 2nds kicked off with the wind at their backs. Having suffered defeat when the two sides last met at Palace Grounds, Bangor were keen to start well, and this was evident in the opening minutes when a concerted forward attack was finished off by Frankie Shivers who stretched over the line and, with the added conversion by Julian Dale, the home side were quickly 7-0 ahead.

Bangor’s forward onslaught continued, with Josh Nelson adding a second try and Shivers scoring again to move into a commanding 19-0 lead after just 17 minutes. Eventually the backs got into the scoring action when Adam Bickerstaff at centre cut a line straight through the Armagh defence and ran through to score Bangor’s bonus point try under the posts.

As the first half drew to a close, Bangor suffered a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, and there may have been some concern that Armagh would take advantage in the second half, especially as the wind would then also be in their favour. However, not only did Bangor manage to contain Armagh during the 10-minute sin bin, but they then produced a scorching break that set Ethan McGrogan free to run through for a breakaway try under the posts.

Although Armagh kept pushing Bangor back into their own half with many good positional field kicks, Bangor responded by keeping the ball in their hands and running back at them. Determined running and good passing eventually saw Bangor get back within sight of the Armagh goal line. Once again it was the power of Josh Nelson who finished off several forward drives with his second try of the game, which stretched Bangor’s lead to 38-0, with 15 minutes left to play.

Bangor’s appetite for more was obvious, but when Armagh intercepted a stray pass inside their own twenty two, they sprinted away to score their consolation try. However, this was as good as it got for the visitors and, as the referee blew for the end of the game shortly afterwards, Bangor could finally celebrate a convincing victory. As the senior squad continues to be bolstered by the addition of youth and school-leaving players, the outlook looks promising as the various teams now enjoy a well-earned summer break ahead of the new season starting in September.