Toon 1XV shine bright under the Friday night lights

JKC/Causeway Geotech sponsored Ballymoney 1st XV welcomed visitors Dromore to Kilraughts Road on Friday night to play their first game under the new floodlights, both teams still in the hunt for a top half finish to their league campaign. David Brown, Aaron Gervais and Andrew Gilmour returned to the side after injuries, and Scott Gamble captained the side with skipper Will Scott still out injured.
Both sides started strong and from the off the large crowd knew it would be a tight game as both teams traded possession early on. On five minutes, an Aaron Gervais penalty gave the Toon the first points with a kick from outside the 22. Ballymoney stretched the lead further after home pressure when Matthew Steele made a break through the defensive line and offloaded to Curtis Pollock who gathered the ball at his bootlaces before the ball was swung wide for Andrew Gilmour to crash over in the corner, conversion missed, Toon lead 8-0.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, Dromore opened their account with a converted try after some pressure in the Toon 22, leaving the score at the break 8-7 to the home side.
A penalty ten minutes in gave Ballymoney an 11-7 lead as the home team, easily playing their best rugby at home this season against a very good Dromore side, both sides defending well when the other had the ball. With just over five left, Aaron Gervais stretched the lead to 14-7 with another penalty.
Straight from the restart, a line break from Daniel Ramage took him into the 22 and popped outside to Matthew Steele who scored the try in the corner, with an excellent conversion from Gervais giving the home side a well-deserved win in a fantastic game. Final score 21-7.
After the match, Scott Gamble commented, “Really glad to get the win over the line against a tough Dromore side on the first ever Friday Night Lights at Kilraughts Road. The lads dug deep and got the well-deserved victory that our recent performances have warranted, after coming very close in the past couple of games. Everyone from 1-18 was outstanding tonight, the effort and intensity was top drawer.
Now we are going to have a big push at training as we are looking to finish the season strong with a home game against City of Derry next week and to help our 2s prepare for the Crawford Cup final on April 20th.
It was great to see a huge crowd out watching in what was a great advert for the Junior game in Ulster.”