We caught up with two of Ulster’s senior sides at Eaton Park Last night as Ballymena entertained City of Armagh in a preseason friendly.

This was another physical encounter with both sides happy to get plenty of contact under their belts before the Community Series starts next weekend.

Ballymena were certainly up for this one and they must have had the lion’s share of territory and possession in the first quarter as they pounded the Armagh line. However, Armagh did look sharp on the counter and they ended the first half seven points up after a break out ended with wing forward Ryan Finlay crashing over close to the posts for Morrow to convert.

Ballymena hit back at the start of the second quarter with an unconverted try but Armagh kept their noses in front when Andrew Willis nudged through a dropped pass for their second converted try.

Undaunted the home side continued to apply pressure and a second score, this one out wide, saw the teams change ends with the score reading 10 – 14 in Armagh’s favour.

Ballymena had put in a lot of work in the first half and unfortunately they ran out of steam in the second with Armagh crossing for five tries without reply.

Glen Faloon, Josh Morton, David Agnew, Jack Treanor and Matthew Reaney all crossed, for the visitors, with Morrow and Fox sharing the conversions to give a final score of Ballymena 10 City of Armagh 43.

A lot of new faces and plenty of effort from both side the deciding factor being Armagh’s back line that looked particularly sharp.

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