Good win in McCrea Cup for Ballymoney First XV

THE JKC/Causeway Geotech sponsored Ballymoney First XV made their first appearance in the new restructured McCrea Cup, the subsidiary cup for the Towns Cup, with an away trip to championship two side Ards.

With a number of players unavailable it gave the coaching team the opportunity to ring the changes with Jason Clyde and Andrew Stevenson in the pack and a restructure of the back line with Lewis Hawthorne and Andy Gilmore centres and Robbie McNeil Robbie starting on the wing.

Ballymoney opened the scoring in the first half 10 minutes when the ball was moved to Robbie McNeil to score in the corner.

The windy conditions and heavy pitch made it difficult with several handling errors by both sides and Ballymoney doubling their lead just before half time when Lewis Hawthorne caught a clearance and made a lovely break through the centre to score on the corner giving Ballymoney a ten point lead at half time.

The Toon men went into the break with the game under control, however, Ards started the second-half well as the visitors gave away several penalties from which Ards scored their first try of the game five minutes into the half.

This was short lived as the Toon hit straight back with a try from Owen Boyd.

Ards to their credit kept working hard and were rewarded with another try of their own after Ballymoney were reduced to 14 men leaving the score 15-12, much tighter than the visitors were happy with after controlling large periods of the game.

Ballymoney got their reward when in the last minute a try from Joel Heggarty secured their passage into the next round with a 22-12 victory where they will face Randalstown at home.

"It was good to get the win today and with cup rugby that's all that really matters I suppose," said coach Andy Graham after the game

"We made a lot of changes and whilst players that came in are more than capable it disrupts the continuity of the side but it was important to get a win after the two difficult league games of the previous weeks.

"We look forward to welcoming Randalstown to Kilraughts Road this weekend where we expect another tight game, but we’re confident we can win."