It was evident from the outset that there was only ever going to be one winner in this contest. The Armoy pack were bigger, stronger and better organised than there opponents, the latter point being due to new coach Ian Caldwell who has taken everything back to basics in his training and this was evident throughout the match.
Ballymoney weather the storm of Armoy attacks for about 10 minutes but it was from a penalty move in the Ballymoney 22 that the ball was fed out to Armoy prop Mark Donald to burst through the Ballymoney defence to crash over for the first try of the match.
It was 5 minutes later that big Mark crashed over again for a second try which was virtually a carbon copy of his first. Both Marks trys were unconverted due to the very blustery conditions.
The next Armoy try came virtue of some great back play, from a ruck the ball was fed out down through the hands out to John Cassley on the wing who broke through 2 tackles to get over for the try.
Again from the kick off Armoy went straight up the field and after some good interlinking play between forwards and backs a ruck was set up 5 meters out under the Ballymoney posts scrum half Barry Kelly popped the ball up to Ian Caldwell who took the ball at pace knocking the Ballymoney defence like skittles to crash under the posts for his first cscore for the club. This was converted by Jarvis Traynor.
Armoy were now relentless and were really piling on the pressure and again from a ruck close to the Ballymoney line Ian Caldwell took the ball at pace and with 3 Ballymoney palyers hanging off him crashed over for his second score.
It was on the stoke of half time that Armoy clocked up their 6th try of the match. From a good Ballymoney attack midway in the Armoy half some good rucking from the Armoy forward led to the ball being fed out to Armoy wing forward Daniel Ramage. He decided to run at the Ballymoney line and charged through 2 tackles to run in under the post from the half way line. Converted by Jarvis.
Half time Armoy 34 Ballymoney V 0
The second half was played out the same way as the first this time however Armoy were playing into the wind.
Again after a series of rucks the ball was fed out through the back line and again found its way to John Cassley who burst through the tackles to run under the posts for a converted score.
The next Armoy try was the recipient of the biggest cheer of the day form the good Armoy support. This time from the base of a ruck the ball was given to Damien McClafferty who put his head down and charged at the defensive line of Ballymoney players. The determination on his face was there for all to see and with 2 would be tacklers holding on to him he powered over for a warmly received score.A fitting way to cap a sterling performance from “Big Ace”. Converted.
The ninth Armoy try was very similar to that scored previously this time it was Ian Caldwell who crossed the line to get his well deservedhat-trick. Converted.
The last score of the day came from Hooker for the day Barry Taggart again it was from relentless forward play and Barry showed great strength and determination to burst through the tackles for a score under the posts.
The conversion from Noel McKelvey was unsuccesful but had he been playing Gaelic football would have been worth 3 points.
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Full time Armoy 60 Ballymoney V 0
Armoy captain Gareth Christie was delighted to run in 10 trys against our nearest rivals but did strees that it was vital to keep getting good numbers at training in order to keep up momentum and emulate last seasons league succsess.
