The quarter final of the Town’s Cup saw Ballymoney 1ST XV set out to defeat Rainey 2s, for the second time this season. It was a similar result to the previous match with the referee blowing the whistle as Ballymoney crossed the 60 points mark. The final score was 65 points to nil.
When the game kicked off both teams took a moment to settle into it. Ballymoney especially took a while to bring the pace of the game to the high tempo that they are used to playing with. Eventually the game was put in motion when the home side secured a line out around the half way line, passed the ball through the hands of the backline and released winger Chris Watson, who snaked through four or five defenders to score the first of his four tries on the day.
The next points came from the boot of Martin Irwin with his first drop goal of the season. The ball came from another lineout, Ballymoney then secured ball at the ruck and passed it back to Irwin in the pocket who just lifted the ball enough to hit the cross bar and fall over the post.
From this point onwards in the game Rainey did not feature. Ballymoney showed that their dominance in Junior one was no fluke and continued to rack up the points. Strong running from out half Irwin, as well as the men outside him made for more brakes through the Rainey back line. Centre Chris Beverland was able to crash through 3 defenders to get his first of 2 tries on the day just before half time.
The second half was a similar tale of dominance when tries continued to pour in. Further tries from Watson, Beverland, Keith Thompson and Jonny Linton. Andrew Surgenor gave reason for him to be back in the side after injury when he picked up the ball in loose play and barrelled his way over the Rainey line. The game ended with a confident and happy Ballymoney side and a score line of 65-0.
Captain James Cleland said “We really didn’t know what to expect coming into this game, we did play Rainey 2s earlier in the season but we knew it was the quarter finals of the Town’s Cup and you don’t get there completely through luck. It was a good game for some of our guys to get their confidence back”.
