Ballymoney 2s headed to Armagh on Saturday in a Provincial Premier 1 league fixture, facing their 3rd XV. With several injuries affecting the lineup, Jonny McMullan stepped into fly-half, and George McAuley covered in the centre. Oliver Mossie made his debut in the back row.

The first half started with a tough contest up front - the experience of the Armagh pack was pushed to the limit by the Ballymoney scrum. But Armagh opened the scoring, cleaning up at the back of a lineout and running 50m.

Captain Jason Clyde hit back a few minutes later after a solid lineout maul attack and several attempts by the forwards. McMullan converted to take the lead - but that was quickly surrendered to a penalty after the kick-off to leave the hosts 8-7 up.

The Toon forwards, ably marshalled by scrum-half McCamphill, took control for the next period of play. And after a good exit, and a series of close drives around the fringes by Millar and Alexander, McMullan spotted a half gap and barged his way over for the second try.

Armagh went on the attack, but Ballymoney's defense held firm - Mossie, Stevenson, and McAuley all making dominant tackles in midfield to frustrate the home side into losing their discipline at the breakdown, where Heggarty was making a nuisance of himself.

Then in the run up to half time Robbie McNeill made a slicing break through the middle, setting up another set of tight forward play. After good carries from Anderson and Stevenson, supported well by Mossie to come close, McMullan again spotted a weakness and squeezed his way over the line from short range. With the conversion good, the visitors were much happier as half time arrived, 21-8 in front.

The second half was a different story as Armagh brought more experienced players on to control the pace of play. And straight from kick off, Ballymoney went on the attack, gaining yards up the middle before finding a mismatch out wide. But the Armagh fly-half read the situation well and intercepted McMullan's pass, then cantered in unopposed from 50 metres out.

That sucker punch took most of the wind out of the sails of the visitors, and a second try for the hosts came soon after, with good phase play creating space to score up the right to make the score 20-21.

With all the momentum going the way of the home side, another disaster struck the home side as a set play in the backs was mis-timed, spilling the ball, and once again Armagh were able to collect and score easily, converted for a 27-21 lead.

With the match far from over, Armagh went on to play out an experienced last 20 minutes, controlling the pace of the game and most of the territory. Emptying the bench to inject some energy made some impact, but despite some good scrums and attacking sets, the Armagh defence held firm.

As the match played out, Armagh were able to further convert a few long range penalties and run out the clock to make the score a comfortable 36-21 win for the home side.

Ballymoney will take the positives from this match - a pack that dominated at scrum time and made heavy dents in the experienced opponent's line. And the makeshift back line created space and handled everything that was thrown at them. But they also know that the basic errors and too many penalties in the second half killed all momentum.

With a couple of weeks off for the 2s, Armagh will be the next opponents in the return fixture, visiting Kilraughts Road on the 7th of December - a match the Toon men can improve on the potential they showed especially in the first half.