Ballymoney hit half century v Monaghan

JKC sponsored Ballymoney RFC 1st XV looked to continue their unbeaten league run with a home encounter on Saturday against Monaghan RFC and in physical encounter, Ballymoney RFC came away with a bonus point 50-0 win over the visitors.
Ballymoney RFC had a number of changes with Matthew Steele and Neil Mullholland unavailable and Nathanial McCollum haven’t shaken off a knee injury the previous week was only able to make the bench. On a positive note the home side welcomed back Michael Allen from a long layout with a knee injury and he took his place in the back row.
The home team put pressure on the visitor straight away with some controlled play. Strong defence limited the visitors from making any ground and pinned them back into their own half. The lineout in recent weeks had been functioning strongly and it set up a number of early attacks for the back however some handling errors let Monaghan off the hook.
The visitors were unable to handle physical runs from Blair, McFetridge and Watson who all made good metres. It was from one of these breaks that took play into the Monaghan 5 metre line and scrum half Linton moved the ball to the forwards who were held up short, but quick play my wing forward Allen saw him pick at the base of the ruck and show good power to force his way over from short range for the opening try inside the first 10mintues. Young conversation was successful and the home team lead 7-0.
Ballymoney were back on the score sheet soon after. Again the defence created a turnover and the penalty was kicked to the corner. The balls was moved wide and then shifted back through the forwards. Strong running from McFetridge tied the Monaghan defence in and the slick hands from the backs opened a gap for Watson who back his pace and raced in from 30metres with the defence hanging from his shirt. Again Young added the extra to make the score 14-0.
Monaghan were unable to get out of there half and any loose kicks were returned excellently buy the back three of Nevin, Pattison and Brown. Ballymoney were also dominating the lineout thanks to excellent work by McKeeman and Bleakly. More excellent link play between forwards and backs resulted in Nathanial Steele continuing his impressive try scoring start to the season with a trade mark run which the Monaghan defence found hard to stop as the big centre crashed over for the 3rd try. Again Young was successful to leave the score 21-0 with 30minutes played.
The forth and bonus point try came off the training field. The forward took the ball on from a lineout the right. Watson ran a great decoy line and Young found Steele behind, who drew the last defender and gave Brown the chance to race in and beat the cover tackles to score in the corner. This time the conversion from the touchline went wide but Ballymoney now had the bonus point in the bag and lead 26-0
The second half the home team start off as they finished with a massive defensive effort. James Bleakly and David McKeeman were to the fore of everything good for Ballymoney as both marshalled the break down. Linton showed his experience as he kept up the pace of the game and shortly into the half he got his rewards with a great individual try as the versatile back backed his strength and pace to break the line and race in under the posts. Young again added the points and as Ballymoney lead 33-0 you could see the Monaghan heads drop. The visitors were unable to find any way through the home team’s defence and steadily became frustrated. Further tries followed for McAneaney, Pattison and Watson earning his brace. The pick of the tries was Pattison as again the forward sucked in the defence and the ball was moved out the backs and openside McKeeman joined the line and showed his skill as he straighten and draw the last defender before delivery the perfect pass for Pattison to run in near the corner. Young added one more conversation to take the final score to 50-0 as the referee blew up 10 minutes early.
Team: P. Irvine, K.McAneaney, M.Blair, A.Millar, J.Bleakly, M.Allen, D.McKeeman, J.McFetridge (c), J.Linton, A.Young, G.Pattison, C.Watson, N.Steele, A.Brown, N.Nevin, I.Moxen, N.McCollum.
Coaches Comments; After the game coaches Hanna and Clelend stated “We played very well today. We asked the guys to stick to the structure and game play and lift the tempo from last week. They did what we asked and the result was that we scored some very good team tries” The defence effort was superb. James Bleakly got Man of Match today as he worked tireless to win ball in the loose and at set piece and his tackle count was very impressive. David McKeeman also showed how he is continuing to develop with a much disciplined game at the ruck and provided a good link between back and forwards. The visitors just could not cope with the extra physical ability we had with Linton, Watson, Steel, McFetridge and Blair all putting in a massive effort. The only disappointment was a knee injury to McCollum as the big number 8 has been impressive in the start to the season and we hope it is nothing major and he make a speedy return. With no game next week it give McCollum and other a chance to take a well earned rest as we push on to a very difficult league fixture list where we will play 2 top 4 teams in PSNI and Strabane at home before the end of the year.
JKC Ballymoney 1st XV next game is Away to Ophir on Saturday 26th November. Support has been excellent this year and we hope as many as possible will travel to Belfast to see if the team can continue their great start to the league.