Back
Sat 23 Sep 2017
1st XVOmagh 2 (Conference)
Tries: K McAneaney, T Hunter (4), A Young, M Bell, M Pollock, A PollockConversions: R Strang (7)
59
20
1s win comfortably able in Omagh
Chris McIlmoyle24 Sep 2017 - 23:11
Share via
J Hanna
The JKC BMW sponsored Ballymoney 1st XV travelled to Omagh to take on a strong Omagh 2nd XV side in the conference league and returned with a bonus point 59-20 win.
Ballymoney made a number of changes to the starting XV from last week, with Adam Pollock returning from injury to start at wing forward in place of injured Club Captain McFetridge, Moxen returned to the 1st XV after an ankle injury in preseason and started at prop, Andrew Young returned to the side after being unavailable last week, while Matthew Pollock, Matthew Bell and Philip Beattie all were included after strong performances for the 2nd XV and hard work in training. David McKeeman took over the captaincy in the absence of McFetridge.
The unity of the whole 1st and 2nd XV squads was shown in the first 5 minutes as Moxen put his experience and strength to good effect to combine with Kenny and Brown to get a penalty at the scrum. Strang kicked the ball to the opposition 22 and from an excellent maul the forwards drove over from distance for Adam Pollock to come up with the ball after a well worked forwards try. The conversation from Strang was successful and Ballymoney had an early 0-7 lead.
Ballymoney suffered an early set back when influential hooker Kenny McAneaney had to retire with a hamstring injury. He was replaced with Philip Beattie, who came up through the clubs youth system to now make his first competitive debut for the 1st XV. His first job was to secure ball from a scrum, which he did and the ball was moved out the back line for inside centre Watson to make a powerful run in midfield. He was able to offload in the tackle to his centre partner Hunter who showed his pace to break away from cover and round the fullback to score below the posts. The conversion was successful by Strang to give Ballymoney now a 0-14 lead.
A 3rd try followed shortly after with some great counter attacking play when a turnover deep in our own half was moved through the forwards with Pollock and Ramage involved before the ball was moved through the back line with quick hands from Young and Hunter to create an overlap for Bell to score in the corner. This time the conversation went wide but Ballymoney now lead 0-19.
From the kick off Omagh started to put on some pressure on the Ballymoney 22 and were rewarded by kicking a penalty to leave the score 3-19. Ballymoney were back on the score board again with a second try for Hunter when he cut through the defence to score an unconverted try out wide. With the score at 3-24 and the bonus point secured, Omagh had a spell of pressure on the Ballymoney try line but great defensive work from Stevenson, Beattie and McKeeman kept the line intact and again a break away move and strong running from the forwards resulted in the ball moved out the backs for Andy Young to score. The half ended with Ballymoney leading 3-29
Omagh stated the second half strongly and scored from some strong drives from their forwards to score in the corner. With the score now 8-29 Ballymoney replied with another try from Hunter to take it to 8-36. Ballymoney went on to score 4 more trys, a second for Adam Pollock, a forth try for Thomas Hunter and a try for Matthew Pollock with Rory Strang adding in total 7 conversations . In between the Ballymoney scoring Omagh scored two trys of their own converting one of them to leave the final score 59-20.
Maine Gym Man of the Match: Thomas Hunter
1st XV Squad: I.Moxen, K. McAneaney, A. Brown, N. Mulholland, A. Stevenson, A. Pollock, D. McKeeman, D. Ramage, M. Pollock, R. Strang, M. Armstong, C. Watson, T. Hunter, M. Bell, A. Young, P. Irvine, P. Beattie.
Coaches Comments: After the game Coach Jonny Hanna stated “Our aim today was to continue to play our style of rugby and keep our unbeaten record intact and we achieved this. We kept the body of the team that worked hard for the win against Larne. We were able to welcome back Moxen and Adam Pollock from injuries and Andy Young who was unavailable last week. We also called up Matthew Pollock at scrum half and Matthew Bell on the wing after both have played and trained exceptionally well. All those who came in put their hand up for selection. We had a few people out with injuries or rested who we hope to have back this week. With this in mind and the second XV winning convincingly at home it will give us a number of big decisions this week at training but our squad are very united and will support each other no matter if they are planning 1st XV or 2nd XV rugby. The only down side was conceding some soft scores so although we scored 9 tries we will be working hard on our defence and discipline this week ahead of the Junior cup 2nd round game away to Limavady on Saturday.
Ballymoney made a number of changes to the starting XV from last week, with Adam Pollock returning from injury to start at wing forward in place of injured Club Captain McFetridge, Moxen returned to the 1st XV after an ankle injury in preseason and started at prop, Andrew Young returned to the side after being unavailable last week, while Matthew Pollock, Matthew Bell and Philip Beattie all were included after strong performances for the 2nd XV and hard work in training. David McKeeman took over the captaincy in the absence of McFetridge.
The unity of the whole 1st and 2nd XV squads was shown in the first 5 minutes as Moxen put his experience and strength to good effect to combine with Kenny and Brown to get a penalty at the scrum. Strang kicked the ball to the opposition 22 and from an excellent maul the forwards drove over from distance for Adam Pollock to come up with the ball after a well worked forwards try. The conversation from Strang was successful and Ballymoney had an early 0-7 lead.
Ballymoney suffered an early set back when influential hooker Kenny McAneaney had to retire with a hamstring injury. He was replaced with Philip Beattie, who came up through the clubs youth system to now make his first competitive debut for the 1st XV. His first job was to secure ball from a scrum, which he did and the ball was moved out the back line for inside centre Watson to make a powerful run in midfield. He was able to offload in the tackle to his centre partner Hunter who showed his pace to break away from cover and round the fullback to score below the posts. The conversion was successful by Strang to give Ballymoney now a 0-14 lead.
A 3rd try followed shortly after with some great counter attacking play when a turnover deep in our own half was moved through the forwards with Pollock and Ramage involved before the ball was moved through the back line with quick hands from Young and Hunter to create an overlap for Bell to score in the corner. This time the conversation went wide but Ballymoney now lead 0-19.
From the kick off Omagh started to put on some pressure on the Ballymoney 22 and were rewarded by kicking a penalty to leave the score 3-19. Ballymoney were back on the score board again with a second try for Hunter when he cut through the defence to score an unconverted try out wide. With the score at 3-24 and the bonus point secured, Omagh had a spell of pressure on the Ballymoney try line but great defensive work from Stevenson, Beattie and McKeeman kept the line intact and again a break away move and strong running from the forwards resulted in the ball moved out the backs for Andy Young to score. The half ended with Ballymoney leading 3-29
Omagh stated the second half strongly and scored from some strong drives from their forwards to score in the corner. With the score now 8-29 Ballymoney replied with another try from Hunter to take it to 8-36. Ballymoney went on to score 4 more trys, a second for Adam Pollock, a forth try for Thomas Hunter and a try for Matthew Pollock with Rory Strang adding in total 7 conversations . In between the Ballymoney scoring Omagh scored two trys of their own converting one of them to leave the final score 59-20.
Maine Gym Man of the Match: Thomas Hunter
1st XV Squad: I.Moxen, K. McAneaney, A. Brown, N. Mulholland, A. Stevenson, A. Pollock, D. McKeeman, D. Ramage, M. Pollock, R. Strang, M. Armstong, C. Watson, T. Hunter, M. Bell, A. Young, P. Irvine, P. Beattie.
Coaches Comments: After the game Coach Jonny Hanna stated “Our aim today was to continue to play our style of rugby and keep our unbeaten record intact and we achieved this. We kept the body of the team that worked hard for the win against Larne. We were able to welcome back Moxen and Adam Pollock from injuries and Andy Young who was unavailable last week. We also called up Matthew Pollock at scrum half and Matthew Bell on the wing after both have played and trained exceptionally well. All those who came in put their hand up for selection. We had a few people out with injuries or rested who we hope to have back this week. With this in mind and the second XV winning convincingly at home it will give us a number of big decisions this week at training but our squad are very united and will support each other no matter if they are planning 1st XV or 2nd XV rugby. The only down side was conceding some soft scores so although we scored 9 tries we will be working hard on our defence and discipline this week ahead of the Junior cup 2nd round game away to Limavady on Saturday.
Further reading
Team Sponsors