Spoils shared with Lurgan

The JKC BMW / Geotech sponsored Ballymoney 1st XV travelled on Saturday to face Lurgan RFC in the league. In a stop start game the points were shared as the game ended in a 12-12 draw.
Curtis Montgomery and Michael Allan returned to the squad on Saturday and took a space on the bench. Peter Irvine was unavailable so Jack Dowey returned from a shoulder injury to start in the front row.
Weather conditions were good and set up for an entertaining fast game however from early on the pace of the game was interrupted but stoppages for infringements and penalties from both sides.
Lurgan made the most of the first 20 minutes with a couple of good line breaks which took play from half way to the Ballymoney 22. However the scramble Ballymoney defence was good and Martin Irwin turnover on 5meteres help clear the lines. Lurgan did get a penalty for their efforts and took the lead 3-0.
Ballymoney took a bit more possession in the last 20 of the first half but didn’t really get close to the Lurgan try line due to a well organised home defence. Each time received a yellow card from the referee in the first half for foul play in what was considered to be a clean game. Ballymoney capitalised from their procession with two penalties from fullback Rory Strang to give the visitors a 3-6 at half time.
The second half saw Michael Allan come on and the second row made an immediate impact with some strong carries. This seemed to kick the forwards into action and they did start to build some phases of play. However again a great break in the back line from Lurgan centre took them into the Ballymoney 22 and won the side a penalty. It was converted to level the scores at 6-6 after 50 minutes. At this time Ballymoney lost Outhalf Martin Irwin to injury. Ashley Tweed then moved to the wing to cover.
Lurgan opted to kick at goal with two long range penalities but both went wide before they converted another penalty after a Ballymoney player was yellow card for holding at a ruck. Lurgan now lead 9-6 with 25 minutes remaining.
Thought some strong carriers by McFetridge, Ramage, Platt and Allan Ballymoey made inroads into the Lurgan half. However the home defence held strong and the only result for the visitors efforts was another well struck penalty by fullback Rory Strang to level the score again at 9-9 with 15mintues left.
Lurgan also found it hard to build phases and break down the visitors defence to get into the 22 but did gain another penalty which they converted to push them ahead 12-9 with less than 10mintues left.
With 5mintues to go Ballymoney had a great chance to win the game when Thomas Hunter kicked through a dropped ball by the Lurgan back line. He was winning the foot race but the ball would sit up and as he stooped to collect the ball 2 metres from the try line he was pushed off the ball by the chasing Lurgan player. The ref was too far behind play to see the incident and gave a knock on by Ballymoney when a penalty try could have been given. Lurgan did well to clear the danger from the scrum.
From the lineout a minor scuffle broke out and the Lurgan second row and Ballymomey prop took their turn in the bin. As a sign of the stoppages the Ref signalled 7 minutes of added time. From the lineout Ballymoney kept the ball but the home defence still stood firm and with the last play of the game Ballymoney were awarded a penalty on the edge of the 22 in front of the posts. With time over Rory Strang kept his nerve to slot over the kick to bring the scores level and earn the visitors a 12-12 draw.
Man of the Match: Rory Strang
Team: M. Blair, J. Dowey, J. McFetridge, D. Platt, A. Tweed, D. Ramage, G. Bellingham. J. Munnis, M. Steel, M. Irwin, M. Bell, J. Laughlin, J. Hyndman, T. Hunter, R. Strang, C. Montgomery, M. Allan.
Coaches Comments: We didn’t play well in the first half and we a good bit of the pace compared to the performance last week. The forwards work rate was slow to get going and didn’t have the impact as of previous weeks but at half time we were still in the game and had a narrow the lead. The game was very stop start with a number of penalties given for minor things which didn’t really help either side. However both sides had this issues and the main problem was it took us really 10 minutes into the second half before we really go going. We had a couple of chases to score but the home defence and set piece was really well organised. At the end as we were behind with only 6 minutes to go we were happy in some way to come away with the draw. Lurgan are well organised and it will be a hard place this season for a lot of teams to get points. We have a week off and this week we will work on our game play and make sure we try and get all injuries cleared up when league action returns against Lisburn at Kilraughts road on 2nd November.
We have a good squad at the moment which showed when the 2nd XV had an excellent 60-22 win with some great performances which will leave us with some hard selection decisions when the league resumes again.