City of Armagh claimed the Ulster Senior Cup for the first time in their history with a 17 – 13 win against Ballymena last night at the Kingspan Stadium.

[pullquote]Armagh had to do it the hard way, scoring two late tries to overturn a 13 – 3 deficit.[/pullquote]

The Orchard county side enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges but it was Ballymena that opened the scoring at the end of the first quarter with Glenn Baillie landing a penalty after an earlier miss.

Armagh hit back midway through the second quarter with Cormac Fox landing a penalty to tie the game 3 – 3 at the break.

Despite Armagh again dominating proceedings at the start of the second half, Ballymena took, what looked like, a decisive lead at the end of the third quarter, with Callum Patterson adding a try, conversion and penalty, all in the space of minutes, to give ‘Mena a 3 – 13 lead.

However, a break from Armagh’s Ryan Purvis, from inside his own 22, eventually led to hooker Andrew Smyth being driven over following a line out. Fox converted to make it a three point game.

Armagh finally went in front midway through the final quarter when scrum half Harry Doyle jinked over from close range to score a try out wide. Fox added the extras to take the score to 17 – 13.

Ballymena pushed hard in the extended time left but Armagh were able to hold on to claim their historic victory.

Final Score: City of Armagh 17 Ballymena 13

We have two sets of pictures from our super snappers Bob and Graham, below. Enjoy.

Photo credit – Bob Given Photography

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Photo credit – Graham Service Photography