I XV 39 v Donaghadee RFC I XV 18
Sat 5th Oct, 2:30pm.
Ballymoney 3 W – L Ards 3
A win today
by Neil Campbell
Disappointment today for the thirds today when their game was called off this morning. The thirds where hoping to build from a hard team training session on Wednesday and put the first two losses of the season behind them.
Ards where unfortunately unable to field a team today, giving the men from the toon all the points.
We would remind all the players that although we don’t have as game next week we still need the numbers at training to build towards the derby in two weeks time against Coleraine at home.
Sat 5th Oct, 11:00am.
Dungannon RFC U13 I XV 37 – 38 Ballymoney RFC U13 I XV
Tight game good result
by Uel McDowell
Close win for Under 13s
On Saturday the U13’s made the journey to Dungannon. With some regular players missing, Ballymoney took an inexperienced side with no fewer than five of the travelling dozen making their U13 debuts. With the journey still in their legs Ballymoney were caught cold and found themselves 15-0 down within the first 10 mins. This was the wake up call Ballymoney needed and with some great play by the forwards good quick ball allowed L Culbertson to feed his backs and a strong run by J Doak saw him crash over the line for the first Ballymoney try. Dungannon responded by scoring a very soft try, poor tackling from Ballymoney allowed them to score under the posts for a converted try. Half Time 22-5. After a strong team talk Ballymoney were a changed side in the 2nd half, the forwards led from the front with A Donnelly and A Tweed putting in great tackles and cleaning up in the rucks and mauls. This platform allowed L Culbertson to pick up from a ruck bump off a couple of tacklers to break their back line even finding time for a wee hitch kick to score a try which he converted himself.22-12. From the restart out half R Ferris gathered the kick and ran from his own 22 out stripping the entire Dungannon back line to score another converted try. 22-19.Ballymoney were cruising and almost an exact replay saw J Doak show everyone that not only a good tackler he can run as well,sprinting the long way round, touching down for his second and Ballymoney’s 4th try.L Culbertson converted.22-26. J Doak completed his hat-trick of tries with another blistering run to touch down and the reliable boot of L Culbertson slotted over.22-33.This started a Dungannon revival and they scored 3 unanswered tries to take the lead.37-33.With seconds left on the clock a good scrum on their own 22 from the “toon”, scrum half L Culbertson picked from the base of the scrum went down the blind side and outpaced their winger to score his second and bring his personal tally to 22 points.The conversion was missed and the refs whistle went for full time. The ref was unsure of the full time score so he opted for the draw but after some tallying on the bus home it became clear Ballymoney took the win by one point.37-38. Special mention goes to Brandon Boyd for his good solid tackling and Rhys Holmes for his running both with ball and support play. Man of the Match – Joint Lee Culbertson and Jack Doak.
Match report provided from Stephen Tweed.
Sat 5th Oct, 11:00am.
Dungannon RFC U15 I XV 21 – 47 Ballymoney RFC U15 I XV
Dominating Win for the Under 15s
by Uel McDowell
Big win for the 15s
Ballymoney U15s travelled to Dungannon for their first league match of the 2013-14 season on Sat.
After giving local rivals Coleraine a rugby lesson two weeks ago beating them 70-0, confidence was running high. The match kicked off in perfect conditions for a game of rugby. Ballymoney had to loan Dungannon a player so that the fixture could go ahead, it didn’t take long for the boys in blue to stamp their authority on the game with the Ballymoney pack putting enormous pressure on Dungannon forwards from the first whistle. This young pack looked like they had played together for years but in reality this is a brand new pack at the start of the season.
Great work from Matthew McConaghy, Adam Coulter and Graham Donnelly in the very first ruck from kickoff set the tone for the game, Dungannon received the ball and set about trying to run over Ballymoney but quickly discovered the boys from the toon were in no mood to let that happen! The toon pack left Dungannon under no illusion that this was going to be a very tough day, Big Graham and Matthew showed great strength to steel the ball from Dungannon and set it up beautifully for young Brian O’Neill at scrum half fed Stevie Culbertson at out half to do what Stevie does best taking on and beating Dungannon’s outhalf and first centre with a lovely side step and a dummy pass and then threw a beautiful pass into the path of man of the moment Matty Bell, Matty beat their winger and fullback with trickery and pace to score between the posts for his 5th try in 2 games which he converted himself. 4 more try’s followed in quick succession 2 of which were excellent tries from Jonny Storey, from the accurate service of Stevie Culbertson at out half and the powerful Graham Donnelly burst through the Dungannon backs of a well timed pass from James Orr at 12. The half was finished of by the man who started off the scoring, young Bell scored a try from his own 22, running in an individual try. Half time score 0-35 to the Toon.
Second half kicked off and it seemed that Dungannon were a different team, right from the start they came at the Toon hard and fast for the reward of 3 well worked tries of their own, all of which were converted to leave the score 21-35 with 20 minutes left in the game. Ballymoney came back to life again and ran in 2 more tries from Jonny Storey and James Orr. Bell converted all but one try in the whole game, to bring the score to 21-47 in favour of Ballymoney.
Dungannon threw in the towel with 13 minutes left on the clock, which meant that Ballymoney took the points against the All-Ireland club too kick start what looks like a promising season for the 15’s and all of Ballymoney Youth Rugby. A special mention has to go to Craig Holmes who played fantastic for Dungannon on his first ever game.
Thanks Craig if you hadn’t of played for them this match wouldn’t have been possible.
Man of the Match was shared between Matthew Bell and Stevie Culbertson.
Keep up the good work lads, UP THE TOON!!!
Match report provided by Mark Culbertson.
12 51
Sat 5th Oct, 11:00am.
Limavady 12 – 51 Ballymoney RFC
Good win for Under 17s
by Uel McDowell
Good win for Under 17s but could play better.
On Saturday the Under 17s travelled to Limavady for a friendly fixture and came away with a resounding 51-12 win.
Playing in excellent conditions the Under 17s controlled the first half winning excellent ball in all phases of the game and the halftime score of 29-0 reflected this with tries being scored by Steven Douglas, Chris Campbell,Gary Pattison, Alan McBurney and Nathanial McCollum, two of which were converted by Andrew Young.
The second half was a more scrappy affair with the Under 17s losing their focus and control which allowed the young Limavady team to score two well worked tries, one of which was converted.
The Under 17s eventually ran out comfortable winners with a further try by Jack Kane,two by Gary Pattison and another by Steven Douglas, one of which was converted by Gary Pattison.
Final score was Ballymoney Under 17s 51 Limavady 12.
The Under 17s will have to be more consistent and must not “switch off” during games and allow sides to play.Coach Uel McDowell commented “We have a really good team which will be able to show their full potential provided players turn up for training, maintain an interest in the game and work on their fitness levels.
The players have been warned about smoking before games (and how smoking affects their health and fitness levels) on the club or any other club premises and if this occurs at any time those players will definitely not be permitted to play.
