Ballymena 5s 20 Randalstown 2s 3 CLICK HERE for HIGH RES PRO Images from Bob Given.
We came we saw and we nearly conquered! Ravenhill was a sea of red and white as Randalstown 2s ran out against Ballymena 5s in the Forster Cup final on Saturday afternoon.
It was always going to be a tale of youth versus experience and in the end experience won but boy did the ‘Town men give their battle hardened opposition a game and maybe the odd nervous moment!
The first half was all the men in red and white and they turned around 3-0 to the good. However having missed a couple of scoring chances meant that the boys were edgy and 3-0 was always going to be a slender margin.
An early exchange of penalties saw the scoreboard untroubled as both kickers tried to find their range on the big stage. When ‘Town took the restart after the Ballymena failed attempt Matty Turner made a great break which resulted in another penalty opportunity. Murray’s kick caught the stiff swirling breeze which was much more apparent up high in the stand, and still it was stalemate.
In the set piece Randalstown fairly set out their stall and had a very experienced Ballymena pack under serious pressure, to the extent that they could do little else only clear to touch . Pleasingly the defence was also holding up well and when Ballymena eventually made a foray into ‘town territory the ball was turned over, bobbled loose, and McGarry pounced. The ‘town crowd were on their feet cheering what they thought was a certain try but McGarry cut inside to try and make the conversion more straightforward and gave their defender the chance to catch him within a sniff of the line. A small comfort was the penalty awarded and Murray duly converted to take Randalstown into the lead.
With things not going quite to plan nerves began to creep in and the ‘Town had an edgy 10 minutes making some basic errors, but still the braidmen never really threatened and looked decidedly nervy as half time approached.
Then up came act 2! Ballymena made a few changes and within a minute or two of the restart they took full advantage when ‘Town let the ball bounce and after good work by substitute Mike Smith, ran in for a converted try.
A penalty opportunity quickly followed and all of a sudden ‘Town were 10-3 down. Use of the considerably experienced bench and a few positional rejigs allowed Ballymena to take some control and they were dominating particularly in the loose. It was from one such ball that second row Davy Laughlin was able to break and make good ground before offloading to flanker Doherty who had the pace to storm in.
Randalstown had one or two opportunities through McGarry and Thom but they couldn’t penetrate the Ballymena defence. Despite being in the jaws of certain defeat a scrum in the dying minutes saw them push Ballymena almost off the ball but no advantage came of it.
The scoreline flattered Ballymena in the end but this was a team of seasoned campaigners who have limited playing years remaining. Randalstown on the other hand had an average age well below 25 so have many potential playing years ahead of them. This is undoubtedly not the last time we will see this team competing for silverware in the coming seasons.
Manager Sloane was ob viously disappointed with the final score but he was unstinting in his praise for his young charges. Matty Turner had a very assured and confident performance at outhalf and Liam Hurrell caught the eye in the forwards but Randalstown had 18 Men of the match on Saturday afternoon who will be all the wiser for this experience next season.
Let’s not forget that they are also league winners and so travel to Malone 3rds next Saturday afternoon in the Harden Cup – who knows another cup final may yet be in the offing this season.
If the level of support and good wishes could have had any influence on the outcome Randalstown 2nds would have won before they took to the pitch. It was gratifying that the Ravenhill ‘Tannoy man’ saw fit to comment on the numbers of red and white descending for proceedings and a huge thank you is extended to each and every one. The team received a huge welcome back at the clubhouse where the achievement was celebrated long into the evening.
