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Sat 17 Sep 2016
1st XVVirginia
Tries: D McKeeman, N Steele, M Allan (3), N McCollum, T KnightConversions: A Young (7)
54
0
Ballymoney smoke not so Golden Virginia
Andy Borthwick18 Sep 2016 - 20:40
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Match report by Chris McIlmoyle
On Saturday,Ballymoney 1st XV kicked off their home league campaign ,hoping to build on the away bonus point victory at B.H.S.F.P , with newly promoted Co. Cavan outfit Virginia the visitors to Kilraughts Road.
With Captain John McFetridge missing due to a neck injury and Calum McDonald also out with a broken nose, Nathanael McCollum & David McKeaman came in with experienced centre Chris Watson also making his first competitive start of the season.
The game kicked off in glorious sunshine and ,as directed by coaches Hanna & Clelland, Ballymoney started the game at a high intensity, pushing the visitors deep in their own half .The pressure soon paid off and with 10 minutes on the clock,David McKeaman opened the scoring after a well worked passage of play .Out-half Andy Young adding the conversion.
After the restart, the Toon soon had the pressure back on again when Nathaniel Steele scoring the second try of the game and again Young converted.
Ballymoney then seemed to take the foot off the gas a bit and made a few unforced errors when in good positions and with the visitors defending resolutely, there were no further score leaving the half time score 14-0.
After the interval, Ballymoney continued to dominate, controlling the scrum and the line out and it wasn’t too long until the tries started to come with Michael Allan crashed over in the corner .Within a few minutes he was at it again , scoring his second and securing the all-important bonus point with Young converting . Score now 26-0
McCollum added the fifth, throwing an outrageous dummy to score below the sticks, again Young added the extras.
With Virginia now deflated and with a man in the bin for constant infringements, Michael Allan got the hat trick to cap a fantastic display with Young again adding the conversion.
Matthew Steele weaved his way across the line after more forward dominance and with the game almost over Thomas Knight galloped over to score the eighth try and Young capped off a master class with the boot, with a tally of seven out of eight conversions. Final score 54-0
With so many good performances on show it was a tricky selection but scrum half Matthew Steele picked up the man of the match award, narrowly pipping golden boot Young.
Jonny Hanna was delighted with the performance.”I felt we dominated the game from start to finish and although we took our foot off the gas midway through the first half, we upped it again in the second half and we finished strongly, showing that the hard pre-season work is paying off .We have a tricky game next week away to P.S.N.I so we need to continue to put in the hard work in training but it’s great to have two bonus point wins under our belt as this helps boost the confidence of our young team.”
With Captain John McFetridge missing due to a neck injury and Calum McDonald also out with a broken nose, Nathanael McCollum & David McKeaman came in with experienced centre Chris Watson also making his first competitive start of the season.
The game kicked off in glorious sunshine and ,as directed by coaches Hanna & Clelland, Ballymoney started the game at a high intensity, pushing the visitors deep in their own half .The pressure soon paid off and with 10 minutes on the clock,David McKeaman opened the scoring after a well worked passage of play .Out-half Andy Young adding the conversion.
After the restart, the Toon soon had the pressure back on again when Nathaniel Steele scoring the second try of the game and again Young converted.
Ballymoney then seemed to take the foot off the gas a bit and made a few unforced errors when in good positions and with the visitors defending resolutely, there were no further score leaving the half time score 14-0.
After the interval, Ballymoney continued to dominate, controlling the scrum and the line out and it wasn’t too long until the tries started to come with Michael Allan crashed over in the corner .Within a few minutes he was at it again , scoring his second and securing the all-important bonus point with Young converting . Score now 26-0
McCollum added the fifth, throwing an outrageous dummy to score below the sticks, again Young added the extras.
With Virginia now deflated and with a man in the bin for constant infringements, Michael Allan got the hat trick to cap a fantastic display with Young again adding the conversion.
Matthew Steele weaved his way across the line after more forward dominance and with the game almost over Thomas Knight galloped over to score the eighth try and Young capped off a master class with the boot, with a tally of seven out of eight conversions. Final score 54-0
With so many good performances on show it was a tricky selection but scrum half Matthew Steele picked up the man of the match award, narrowly pipping golden boot Young.
Jonny Hanna was delighted with the performance.”I felt we dominated the game from start to finish and although we took our foot off the gas midway through the first half, we upped it again in the second half and we finished strongly, showing that the hard pre-season work is paying off .We have a tricky game next week away to P.S.N.I so we need to continue to put in the hard work in training but it’s great to have two bonus point wins under our belt as this helps boost the confidence of our young team.”
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