1XV's classy first half performance sees them through against Carrick 1s

With a bonus point win against Carrick in the bag from last Saturday, the JKC/Causeway Geotech sponsored Ballymoney 1st XV made the trip to Carrick on a crisp winter’s afternoon, hoping to secure another victory on the road. The Toon men welcomed back James Bleakley , Curtis & Matthew Pollock to the starting line up, with Ross Fallows moving to fifteen, replacing the injured Lewis Hawthorne.
Ballymoney took the lead within a few minutes, Carrick were penalised just outside the 22 and Andy Young slotted over the penalty. Straight from the restart , the Toon men attacked up the middle, the ball went through the backs at lightning pace to release Ross Fallows, who raced in to score a superb opening try, converted by Young, Ballymoney lead 10-0 with 4 minutes played.
Great link-up play between the forward and backs led to try number 2; the ball was carried into Carrick defence, moved out wide before the offload to Curtis Pollock saw him power over the line and again with Young converting, Money were 17-0 up.
Ballymoney were playing extremely well and were dominating every aspect of the game, it wasn’t too long before they stretched the lead even further when a Curtis Pollock drive was offloaded to Marty Irwin who scored the third try of the game, with Young again adding the conversion making it 24-0.
The all important fourth try came from a break from inside their own 22, The Toon forwards turned the ball over from a Carrick attack, and the ball was shifted out wide to Owen Boyd who kicked through and re-gathered it to crash over the line, giving the Toon a 29-0 lead on the half hour mark.
Carrick hit back just before the half when they kicked into the corner, caught and drove the lineout over the Ballymoney line leaving the score at the break 29-5.
Carrick came out fighting second half with a renewed vigour and scored a try early on second half after their pack built the phases before crashing over to take score to 29-10.
With Carrick fighting for their lives and Ballymoney not as clinical as they were in the first half, it was a tighter second 40 minutes and Carrick were next to score, with about 10 minutes remaining, their winger went over in the corner. The men in blue were not finished, the Toon pack pounded and pounded into the home defence and Marty Irwin crashed over for his second of the game to leave the final score 34-17.
“I thought we were outstanding first half, the forwards were dominant, and the backs looked really dangerous today, our set piece was good and we carried well, in particular the back row of Brown, Pollock & Scott. We raced into a great position and secured the bonus point in the first half,” said Chris McIlmoyle. “Carrick, to their credit, came out and threw everything at us second half and our performance just wasn’t where it could have been however, it was pleasing to score the try in the second half. To take the full 10 points from these two games was vital and again, we will work hard to improve for the visit of Dromore this Saturday. Again, on behalf of the team I’d like to thank the huge travelling support today; it is fantastic to see and hear your support as we try and build our team through the League campaign.”