Toon return to Top with Bonus Win

TOON GO TOP WITH BONUS POINT WIN AGAINST HOLYWOOD
On Saturday JKC sponsored Ballymoney 1st XV returned to action after a two week layoff with Holywood the visitors on a damp March afternoon.
With PSNI not in action today it was a chance for Ballymoney to return to the top of the league. Props Matty Blair & Peter Irvine made their return to the team after injury and with Michael Allan moving to second row ,Jordan Munnis started at 8 with skipper McFetridge moving to 6.
Andy Young returned at outhalf with James Clelland moving to fullback. Jack Doey took a place on the bench.
With Coaches Hanna & Clelland stressed the importance of starting the game with a high intensity, Ballymoney set straight to work with the pack driving hard deep into the Holywood 22.The ball was recycled to Nathaniel Steele who broke through to open the scoring and continue in his fine try scoring form this season, conversion added by Clelland.
The Toon continued to push hard from the restart giving Holywood no chance to settle into the game.After a series of pick an goes from the Toon pack, scrumhalf Matthew Steele whipped the ball out to Andrew Young who scored below the posts, conversion again added By Clelland,Toon 14 up.
Holywood then started to press into the Ballymoney half but the defence was well organised and snuffed out any threat and Clelland cleared the danger with a fantastic clearance from his 22.
From the resulting lineout, The home pack stole the ball and pressed hard into the opponent’s 22 from where the referee penalised them for killing the ball .Clelland took a quick tap and the ball was moved to centre Chris Watson who used all his strength to barge over the line between the posts ,again extras added by Clelland.
The bonus point was then secured before half time when the ball was flashed through the hands to Aaron Brown who finished off in the corner which was superbly converted by Clelland.
Half time score Ballymoney 28 Holywood 0
Brown added his second try midway through the second half after further dominance by the toon pack resulting in an overlap on the outside which Brown duly snapped up.
To be fair to Holywood they didn’t give up and only a try saving tackle from Clelland stopped a certain try.The visitors pressed hard but the well organised home defence stood firm, eventually leading to Holywood spilling the ball.
With 10 minutes left on the clock, skipper McFetridge scored his long awaited first try of the season when a five metre scrum was driven over after a prolonged period of pressure in the 22.Clelland converting.
Holywood threw everything at Ballymoney in the closing minutes but with the impressive Clelland jinking his way out of his own 22 , the ball was fed to McFetridge who galloped half the pitch to add his second try of the game .After the conversion was missed by Matthew Steele , referee Emmet Deans sounded the final whistle as toon won 45-0
Coaches Hanna & Clelland were delighted with the result and performance.” This was probably one of our best performances of the season today, weather conditions were tricky and after the two week layoff it was imperative that we started strongly. With PSNI game off today ,we had the opportunity to return to the top of the league and we’re now 4 points clear with a game in hand.
The team performed well today but in attack and defence with notable performances from Jordan Munnis and Michael Allan. In previous weeks we have been conceding too many penalties but we worked hard on our discipline today.
We will continue to work hard as we travel to Monaghan next week followed by rearranged trips to Ophir & Letterkenny.
Any supporters looking to travel to support the team in Monaghan are welcome as we will be travelling by coach, to book a seat please contact Chris McIlmoyle.