Donaghadee exerted early pressure but were repulsed by the experienced Armoy side who soon set their stamp on the game with strong driving forward play and expert kicking from their talented outhalf.
‘Dee scrumhalf Andy Monson opened the scoring but his effort was soon cancelled out by the Armoy outhalf Scott Moffatt. Ossie Gordon, Jamie Wilson, Mark Poole and Gareth Martin all had chances to score but Armoy held out to leave the sides tied at 3-3 at the break.
With a strong breeze at their backs, Donaghadee earned a succession of penalties as they dominated open play. Following successive drives on the Armoy line, led by Brian McCracken, Simon Moore and Gordon, the ball was spun to Gareth Doherty who released centre Ryan Milligan on an angled run which broke the defensive line for the first try of the game. Monson converted for a 10-3 lead.
Just after the hour mark Monson kicked his second penalty of the match to gain a ten point advantage. With just seven minutes remaining on the clock, Doherty ran blind and dummied before slipping through the defence to touch down in the corner. The missed conversion left the score at 18-3.
To their great credit Armoy pushed for a late try and they were not to be denied. they scored right on the final whistle when loose ball was picked up on the halfway line and slick handling led to their centre racing under the posts. The try was converted by Moffatt to the leave the final score reading 18-10.