Saturday 20th March. Report from Dave Watson.
On Saturday Ballymoney 1st XV played their penultimate game in the League against a Dromore side who have turned their club around since last season’s near relegation. The men from the toon were going to be under pressure from the start with a number of injuries and illnesses throughout the squad but ran out as victors with a final score of 20-8.
Ballymoney were under pressure before kick off with a number of changes to their starting line up. Marty Irwin was unavailable, so young out half Cormac McCartney was brought in. Winger Jonny Linton was also unavailable so Nigel Nevin was drafted into the squad again. The forwards remained unchanged after the previous week but Ryan Clyde was brought onto the bench instead of Jason Taggart.
The game kicked off. It was a sunny but windy day which kept the game at a high pace but put pressure on passes to be accurate. Dromore kicked off and immediately tried to make their presence felt through their top try scorer this season in the centre. Ballymoney’s defence was as good as it has been all season despite having a number of different men in. Dromore grew frustrated with the strong defence from the home side and started to leak penalties. Although it was a slow start for the boot of James Cleland he eventually came into good kicking form and kicked a total of 10 points from the boot on the day.
The wind made it hard for either team to secure line out ball for much of the first half. Anytime either side got into a potentially dangerous area Line outs were spoiled or poorly thrown which resulted in the first half being on which neither pack was really able to show their dominance.
The constant pounding from the big dromore runners and the disorganisation of the game eventually resulted in Dromore crossing the line for a try. This was responded to in kind by the home side that scored from a powerful run from second row Danny Platt.
The half time score was 8 points to 10 in favour of the home side. Ballymoney were determined to dominate the second half having felt that they didn’t perform to the standards they should be in the first. The men from the toon went out with a new lease of life in the second half. The pace of the game was turned up another notch and the larger Dromore pack began to feel the burn and struggle to get about the park.
The Ballymoney pack began to rumble and show that despite their smaller size they were still able to dominate scrums, line outs and the tackle situation. As the forwards grew in confidence the supporters were treated to some good running rugby. Most notable of these was Alex Hueston’s break which saw him show a great turn of pace to get behind the Dromore defence and make a dash for the line only to be thwarted by their full back.
There was some lovely play from the back line also, Keith Thompson made a number of good breaks and eventually was rewarded when he broke from within his own half to beat the full back and score Ballymoney’s second try of the day.
The final score was 20-8 in Ballymoney’s favour and the Ballymoney men couldn’t be happier with the result. This week sees the 1sts travel to Dungannon for their Towns Cup semi Final. There is a supporter’s bus going and if you are interested in going just contact the club or call in any evening this week to confirm details. Your support would be greatly appreciated.
