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Sat 09 Sep 2017
1st XVAcademy (Junior Cup)
Tries: A Young, A Brown, J McFetridge, C Watson, M Irwin, D PosternakConversions: J Cleland (3)Penalties: J Cleland
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1sts progress to next round of Junior Cup
Chris McIlmoyle10 Sep 2017 - 03:11
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Report by J Hanna
The JKC sponsored Ballymoney 1st XV took a break from league action to play Academy in the first round of the Junior cup at Kilraughts Road. Last week’s bonus point win at Lisburn did come at a cost as Ballymoney picked up injuries to Matthew Blair and Adam Pollock. This week also seen Nathanial Steele unavailable. Thomas Hunter returned to the team and started in centre, Daniel Ramage started in the back row having been unavailable last week due to work commitments, while Ian Moxen having shaken off an injury sustained in an early preseason friendly made his first competitive start of the season at loose head.
Academy were a familiar opposition to Ballymoney as the two teams had meet in the first league game of the season at the end of August with Ballymoney edging a close encounter 11-9. The home team knew they had to start better on Saturday than they did in the league game and that they did.
From the kick off Ballymoney went on the offensive moving the ball well between forwards and backs. Strong runs from McFetridge, Ramage and Allan were complemented in the backs with breaks by Irwin and Hunter. The phases and pressure lead to an overlap on the far right touch line and Young crashed over for the opening try. The conversion was wide but Ballymoney had a 5-0 lead in the first 5 minutes.
Ballymoney defence was holding firm and Hunter was making some good hard yards at 13. From a penalty Ballymoney kicked into the Academy 22. The backs set up a good platform close to the line and ball was moved among the forward until captain McFetridge barged over for a try near the posts. Cleland added the 2 points to take the score to 12-0.
The half was mainly played out in the Academy end of the pitch was the visitors finding it hard to breakdown the Toons defence. Again from pressure in the visitors 22 prop Andrew Brown showed good strength to stay on his feet after being initially stopped and power over the line from close range for the teams 3rd try of the half with 20 minutes played. Cleland again added the points to take the score to 19-0.
The last attacking play of the half saw Cleland knock over a long range penalty kick to leave the score 22-0 at the break.
Ballymoney knew Academy would come out fighting and they did. The visitors used the strong breeze to their advantage and started to mount some pressure on the home team, however again Ballymoney defence stood firm. From defensive pressure and a turnover Michael Allan set off on a surging run towards the try line. He passed to winger Watson who was in support and he showed great strength to beat the cover defence and go in at the corner.
Then next try again came from the result of a turnover when the ball was moved quickly for Martin Irwin to run in at the posts. The conversion was slotted over easily by James Cleland and Ballymoney now lead 34-0 with 15minutes remaining.
Although Academy did have some more attacking pressure in this half they didn’t really penetrate the home sides 22 until the last 10mintues. Ballymoney were penalised a number of times at the break down which gave Academy another chance to tap and attack the Toons try line. Repeated waves of attacks were repelled by the strong defence and eventually Academy spilled the ball and Ballymoney cleared their lines
From the final passage of play the ball was moved from the right wing to the left where Nigel Nevin showed his quick feet to step the winger and make good metres. A kick through from the break was gathered and taken over the line from Academy. A 5 metre scrum allowed Ballymoney to drive for the line and after a number picks the ball was moved to centre Dennis Posternak who again showed good strength to drive over for a score. The kick went wide and the final whistle sounded to end the game with the score line at 39-0 and seen Ballymoney progress to the next round of the Junior Cup.
Team: I. Moxen, K. McAneaney, A. Brown, M. Allan, J. Bleakly, D. Ramage, D. McKeeman, J. McFetridge, M. Steele, A. Young, N. Nevin, M. Irwin, T. Hunter, C. Watson, J. Cleland, P. Irvine, D. Posternak
Maine Gym Man of the Match: Daniel Ramage
After the match the coaches made the following comments; “In the home game against Academy we made a few mistakes and we knew we needed to start better. Last week we got a good start but let Lisburn come back with some tries. This week we achieved a good start and defence stayed firm all game. It was positive that we didn’t switch off at 22-0 but instead in the second we kept the intensity up and scored another 3 tries.Academy had some very good phases of play and it took an excellent team effort for us to keep them from scoring.
It was also very pleasing to see the 2nd XV get off to an excellent start to their league campaign with a 53-0 win over neighbours Ballymena 3s. For both sides to keep the opposition to nil is a reward for the hard work the guys have put in during training.
Next week sees a return to league action as Ballymoney 1st XV welcome Larne to Kilraughts Road. Kick off will be at 2.30pm and all support is greatly appreciated.
Academy were a familiar opposition to Ballymoney as the two teams had meet in the first league game of the season at the end of August with Ballymoney edging a close encounter 11-9. The home team knew they had to start better on Saturday than they did in the league game and that they did.
From the kick off Ballymoney went on the offensive moving the ball well between forwards and backs. Strong runs from McFetridge, Ramage and Allan were complemented in the backs with breaks by Irwin and Hunter. The phases and pressure lead to an overlap on the far right touch line and Young crashed over for the opening try. The conversion was wide but Ballymoney had a 5-0 lead in the first 5 minutes.
Ballymoney defence was holding firm and Hunter was making some good hard yards at 13. From a penalty Ballymoney kicked into the Academy 22. The backs set up a good platform close to the line and ball was moved among the forward until captain McFetridge barged over for a try near the posts. Cleland added the 2 points to take the score to 12-0.
The half was mainly played out in the Academy end of the pitch was the visitors finding it hard to breakdown the Toons defence. Again from pressure in the visitors 22 prop Andrew Brown showed good strength to stay on his feet after being initially stopped and power over the line from close range for the teams 3rd try of the half with 20 minutes played. Cleland again added the points to take the score to 19-0.
The last attacking play of the half saw Cleland knock over a long range penalty kick to leave the score 22-0 at the break.
Ballymoney knew Academy would come out fighting and they did. The visitors used the strong breeze to their advantage and started to mount some pressure on the home team, however again Ballymoney defence stood firm. From defensive pressure and a turnover Michael Allan set off on a surging run towards the try line. He passed to winger Watson who was in support and he showed great strength to beat the cover defence and go in at the corner.
Then next try again came from the result of a turnover when the ball was moved quickly for Martin Irwin to run in at the posts. The conversion was slotted over easily by James Cleland and Ballymoney now lead 34-0 with 15minutes remaining.
Although Academy did have some more attacking pressure in this half they didn’t really penetrate the home sides 22 until the last 10mintues. Ballymoney were penalised a number of times at the break down which gave Academy another chance to tap and attack the Toons try line. Repeated waves of attacks were repelled by the strong defence and eventually Academy spilled the ball and Ballymoney cleared their lines
From the final passage of play the ball was moved from the right wing to the left where Nigel Nevin showed his quick feet to step the winger and make good metres. A kick through from the break was gathered and taken over the line from Academy. A 5 metre scrum allowed Ballymoney to drive for the line and after a number picks the ball was moved to centre Dennis Posternak who again showed good strength to drive over for a score. The kick went wide and the final whistle sounded to end the game with the score line at 39-0 and seen Ballymoney progress to the next round of the Junior Cup.
Team: I. Moxen, K. McAneaney, A. Brown, M. Allan, J. Bleakly, D. Ramage, D. McKeeman, J. McFetridge, M. Steele, A. Young, N. Nevin, M. Irwin, T. Hunter, C. Watson, J. Cleland, P. Irvine, D. Posternak
Maine Gym Man of the Match: Daniel Ramage
After the match the coaches made the following comments; “In the home game against Academy we made a few mistakes and we knew we needed to start better. Last week we got a good start but let Lisburn come back with some tries. This week we achieved a good start and defence stayed firm all game. It was positive that we didn’t switch off at 22-0 but instead in the second we kept the intensity up and scored another 3 tries.Academy had some very good phases of play and it took an excellent team effort for us to keep them from scoring.
It was also very pleasing to see the 2nd XV get off to an excellent start to their league campaign with a 53-0 win over neighbours Ballymena 3s. For both sides to keep the opposition to nil is a reward for the hard work the guys have put in during training.
Next week sees a return to league action as Ballymoney 1st XV welcome Larne to Kilraughts Road. Kick off will be at 2.30pm and all support is greatly appreciated.
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