Success for the Toon
Thursday, 28 January 2010
William Dunlop received the inaugural Robert Dunlop trophy, named in honour of his late father.
THERE was success for Ballymoney rugby teams at the weekend as Dalriada First XV earned themselves a place in the next round of the Northern Bank Schools' Cup after a 10-0 victory over Bangor.
It has been 17 long years since Dalriada have made the fourth round of this prestigious competition and waiting for them is Campbell College on Saturday, February 6. Rhys McAuley was the try scorer for Dalriada after the fifth year pupil chased a high ball, putting pressure on his opposite number, forcing him to fumble. Rhys hacked through, scooped up the ball to touch down. Lee Ballentine added the conversion to leave the Ballymoney boys 7-0 in front at the interval. Vice Captain Cormac McCartney then added to the tally with a 35 metre drop goal to the delight of the home support.
Following on from the School's success in the morning, Ballymoney First XV under the guidance of player/coach Jason Taggart, made the short trip to Sandel Lodge. This much anticipated game had been postponed from Boxing Day and although Ballymoney didn't get into their stride until the second half, they went on to win comfortably 24-5.
The home side missed three penalty attempts and the first half remained scoreless, however, the second half saw a very determined Ballymoney side who upped the ante and were rewarded when Dave Campbell crossed the line for the converted score.
Ballymoney began to dominate and it wasn't long before they added to their tally when Irwin floated a lovely pass into Keith Thompson's hands for him to score in the corner. Captain James Clelland's conversion made it 14-0.
A well struck penalty from Clelland increased the Ballymoney lead before the third try came after another spell of domination by the pack.
The influential Taggart picked up a loose ball, dodged through a number of missed tackles to touch down between the posts with Clelland adding the conversion.
Coleraine scored a consolation try in the dying minutes of the game to give Ballymoney a well deserved win on their old adversaries' home patch.
Subscribe to read full newspaper »
Send to a friend
Please complete the following form to inform a friend about this page.
