On Saturday Ballymoney 3XV travelled down the road to Randalstown 2XV for a closely fought top of the table clash.

Randalstown started the brighter scoring the first try of the game and converting to give the home side the lead. Ballymoney took a while to get settled into the game but began to retain possession deep in Randalstown’s 22. This buildup of pressure resulted in Ruairi Hawthorne scoring out wide with David Hodges converting to leave the score 7-7 at half time.

Randalstown scored early on in the second half to give the visitors the lead but Ballymoney yet again were able to respond. After some good play orchestrated by Jonny Linton, Adam Hodges was able to cross the line to draw the game level once again.

With the game tied 14-14 going into the last play the toon men were pushing deep into the Randalstown 22 to gain the upper hand. A loss in possession resulted in Randalstown going up the other end and scoring the winner to leave the score 21-14.

Manager Chris Campbell commented, “while we’re disappointed with the result we can take a lot of positives from the game. We worked hard in defence against a strong 2XV side and we can build on these positives in future weeks.”

Ballymoney 3XV will be back in action on 2nd November away to Ards 2XV in the first round of the Forster Cup.