2XV put on brilliant performance to beat City of Derry

Toon 2's too strong for City of Derry

This week Ballymoney 2XV took on a strong City of Derry side who have started the season well. On a wet day at Kilraughts Road the home side were hoping to make up for last week's defeat to Banbridge.

Ballymoney started strongly and multiple strong carries from the "Toon" pack helped them gain yards and put the away team's defence under pressure but the away side turned the ball over and cleared their lines.

City of Derry were first to get points on the board after winning a penalty in the Ballymoney 22 and kicked the points to lead 3-0. Ballymoney went straight up the pitch and applied the pressure once again. This led to a scrum which the Ballymoney pack dominated to win a penalty. From this the home side kicked for the corner as they knew their lineout would be strong even in wet conditions. Ballymoney won the lineout and set up a driving maul allowing hooker Joel Heggarty to open the scoring. Centre Andrew Young converted to make the score 7-3.

Ballymoney were quick to restart the attack and continued to dominate in the scrums, pushing the away side off the ball and winning penalties. City of Derry then had a short spell of possession and won a lineout which Ballymoney knocked on and the referee gave the visitors the option of a scrum or lineout. From the resulting lineout the home side won the ball and after multiple phases worked the ball out to fly half James Cleland who beat a defender to crash over the line. Centre Young converted to make the score 14-3 to the home side at the break.

Ballymoney started the second half strongly with multiple phases of possession involving both forwards and backs. The "Toon" broke strongly from a scrum and after strong carries from the pack, second row Michael Allan crossed the whitewash. Ballymoney converted again to lead 21-3. From the restart Ballymoney were quick to regain possession in the opposition 22 and recycled the ball quickly in contact. Scrum half Matthew Dunlop provided quick ball to the oncoming pack led by captain Andrew Millar who crossed the line for their fourth try to make the score 28-3.

Ballymoney continued to use their backs to gain yards showing great handling in wet conditions and got their rewards when a strong carry from number eight Neil Mulholland brought a further try, Young again converting. Young then added a try of his own and a further try by Michael Allan extended the lead to 49-3.

From the restart, prop Jack Anderson broke the City of Derry line and was tackled just outside the opposition 22. This allowed scrum half Matthew Dunlop to move the ball to captain Andrew Millar who sold a dummy pass to score his second try of the day.

With the score at 56-3 Ballymoney kept the intensity high and centre Chris Watson broke the line and showed good feet to make his way into the opposition 22 and offload the ball to oncoming support. Ballymoney again produced multiple phases with the forwards breaking tackles and the backs splitting the defence out wide. Eventually the ball reached prop William Parkhill just ouside the 22 metre line who ran through a gap to touch down and leave the final score 63-3 to Ballymoney.

Overall it was a fantastic performance from the home team and running in 9 tries was a great achievement in wet conditions. Ballymoney can be happy with the intensity of play and especially their resilient defence to deny the visitors any tries. The home side competed well at the lineouts and dominated the scrums throughout, winning multiple penalties from the set piece. The 2XV have a break next week but face the reverse fixture away to City of Derry on 23 November which should be another exciting encounter.

Ballymoney 2XV: 1. J Anderson, 2. J Heggarty, 3. William Parkhill, 4. Michael Allan 5. Andrew Millar, 6. Garvin Bellingham, 7. James Millsopp, 8. Neal Mulholland, 9. Matthew Dunlop, 10. James Cleland, 11. Davy Rea, 12. Chris Watson, 13. Andrew Young, 14. Andrew McNaugher, 15. Mike Armstrong Subs: 16. Dan McCord, 17, Andrew Stevenson, 18. John Gilkinson