On Saturday Ballymoney 3XV hosted local rivals Coleraine 2XV in their final league game of the season.

Ballymoney started off the game brightly. A dominant scrum provided Ballymoney with a strong platform to attack the Coleraine defence. After some sustained pressure deep in the Coleraine 22, Ruairi Hawthorne crossed the line to give the Toon men the lead, 5-0.

Ballymoney were playing against the wind the first half and had to work hard to get up the pitch. Strong carries by the forwards helped to move the toon men up the pitch. After another prolonged period in the Coleraine ‘22 Neal Mulholland crossed the line to further extend the lead. No more chances came from either side before the end of the half, leaving the scoreline 12-0.

In the second half Coleraine looked to respond and pushed hard to get across the line. Some good defensive work held out the Coleraine attacks with Adam Cusick putting in some strong tackles in the centre. Ballymoney’s defence remained resolute and held up Coleraine over the line.

Ballymoney’s penalty count was becoming a problem and was putting unnecessary pressure on the toon men. A yellow card for Neil Campbell for repeated team infringements left Ballymoney with 14 men. Coleraine capitalised in this period and scored to close the gap to 12-7.

Ballymoney looked to put Coleraine out of reach and worked their way back up the pitch. The Ballymoney forwards worked well in taking scrums against the head and were making large gains in attack. Dan McCord was regularly breaking lines and pushing Ballymoney deep into the Coleraine ‘22. As the toon men neared the Coleraine try-line, Curtis Montgomery powered over from close range to extend the Ballymoney lead to 19-7.

In the latter stages of the game Ballymoney were controlling the territory, playing the majority of the game in the Coleraine half as they looked to get the bonus point. With some good work at the set piece there was a great platform for the Toon backline to do some damage and progress Ballymoney up the pitch. In the closing minutes Gavin Finney crossed the line to secure the bonus point and leave the scoreline 24-7 at full time.

Manager Chris Campbell commented, “We knew that today would be a hard fought match against our local rivals. Our penalty count at times put us under pressure however we were able to be strong in defence to hold out Coleraine for the most part. Going forward we showed some great phases of rugby and were regularly breaking the gain-line. For Ballymoney 3s to do the double over Coleraine 2s this season was a massive achievement that the boys can be proud of and a great way to end the season.