Ballymena travelled to Judge’s Road at City of Derry knowing their hosts possess the capability of beating all-comers, and had indeed done just that in disposing of both Belfast Harlequins and Ballynahinch in previous rounds of the competition. Picking themselves up after the disappointment of the previous week’s performance against Harlequins, Ballymena made a storming start and immediately found themselves threatening the Derry line. After a couple of phases, Darrell O’Kane drove over to open the scoring on 2 mins. David O’Hara converted to give the visitors a 7 point lead.
Derry appeared to show some nerves, kicking the re-start out on the full. After the scrum on the half-way line both teams fronted up with Ballymena looking as if they meant business.
After 9mins Ballymena again threatened with some good passing and strong running from Caolan Fitzpatrick. This was followed by quick ball from a resulting ruck, and the ball went back across with Andrew Kerr bursting through on the 22 to make a clear run to the line and score the second try of the match. O’Hara again converted to increase the lead to 14 points to nil.
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Derry showed they had the edge in the scrum and after collapsing the referee awarded a penalty to the home team on 12mins. McCarter pushed the kick wide. Shortly after and following a number of exchanges, Ballymena were awarded a penalty which fell short of the posts. This spurred the big Derry pack into action and the drove their way to up to the Ballymena line. They were awarded a penalty and elected to scrum from which No8 Stephen Ferguson picked and drove over to get Derry on the scoreboard. The conversion was missed and the score on 20mins was 5-14 in Ballymena’s favour.
Ballymena continued to push after winning a couple of penalties elected to kick for goal. The attempt went wide. They pressed again and some good work by Darrell O’Kane showing strength ripped the ball to win the turnover and set in motion another attack. This lead to another penalty which O’Hara successfully kicked to extend the lead 5-17 .
Derry responded and after another scrum collapse were awarded a penalty which McCarter converted to take the score to 8-17. Derry attacked again after the restart and with some good defence from Ballymena, the ball went loose. Pritchard was quick to pounce on it, and on breaking through the Derry line found Fitzpatrick who ran three quarters the length of the pitch to score on 43mins. O’Hara again converted to make the half-time score 8-24 in favour of Ballymena.
Half-Time Derry 8 – Ballymena 24
Derry started well in the second half with their very lively scrum half Andrew Semple moving the ball quickly. After a couple of phases the ball moved wide and McCarter was there to dive over in the corner. The conversion was again missed, the score now reading 13-24 to Ballymena. After ten minutes of exchanges in the middle of the field, Ballymena won another penalty and with a very good kick, O’Hara extended Ballymena’s points tally to 27. Shortly after he was blocked after a kick ahead and again with a good strike increased their score to 30.
At this stage one would have thought Ballymena were home and dry, but forgive Derry for not believing that. They came at Ballymena with everything they had and pushed the visitors back into their 22. With some good handling they recycled the ball a number of times and on 65mins McCarter again scored in the corner. An excellent touchline conversion meant Derry were back in business with the score now reading 20-30.
Ballymena regrouped and John Semple cut through the Derry line to make 40metres finding Pritchard in support. The following pass went to touch and when Derry threw long John Burns gathered to burst through. Derry infringed and O’Hara correctly opted forth three points to bring the score to 20-33 with ten minutes remaining.
Derry came back again and with both teams playing some fine rugby both in attack and defence, the home side broke through on 77mins with replacement David Witherow getting the touchdown. Another good touchline conversion closed the scoreline to 27-33 going into injury time. Derry attacked again with good control and ball retention, equally Ballymena defending very well. After around twenty phases Ballymena, through O’Kane gathered a loose ball and kicked upfield toward the Derry line. Good follow up led to a penalty being awarded to Ballymena for the defender holding on. However after deliberation with the touch judge, the referee brought the game back to the Ballymena 22 awarding a penalty to Derry. They had no option but to run the ball and after several more attacking phases, Ballymena managed to keep Derry out and the referee blew his whistle for full time on 90mins.
The unofficial man of the match was Andrew Kerr selected by none other than Syd Millar, for his outstanding work rate through the whole game. Who would argue! Final Score – City of Derry 27 Ballymena 33
