Academy safely past opening Schools' Cup hurdle

In front of a large crowd Academy attacked straight from the kick off pinning Limavady deep in their own half. The Ballymena side put together many promising moves but poor handling let them down.

In the 14th minute following sustained pressure on the Limavady line, Academy second row David Whann crashed over the try line but the referee deemed the ball was held up. From the scrum that was awarded Ballymena Academy won a penalty. Callum Patterson number 10 made no mistake bi-secting the posts to give Academy the lead.

Ballymena continued to dominate but in the 21st minute Limavady took the game into the Ballymena half for the first time. Academy prop George Hargy made a great tackle and the ball was turned over by David Whann. The ball was released to the Academy backs who cut open the Limavady defence, with winger Matthew McBride scoring in the left hand corner.

Limavady at last gained some momentum and following prolonged possession in the Academy '22', they kicked a penalty in the 32nd minute to make the half-time score 8-3.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Academy dominating territory but failing to cross the try line.

In the 45th minute from a line out on the Limavady 22, Academy number 8 Peter Wallace scored. Patterson converted.

This seemed to galvanise Limavady into action who, cheered on by the home support, at last took the game to Academy. Outstanding defence by Ballymena held them out on numerous occasions but poor clearance kicking by Academy gave them no respite.

Academy were conceding too many penalties and following a warning by the referee to the Ballymena captain, it came as no surprise when in the 66th minute, prop Sam McNabney was yellow carded for another penalty infringement.

In the 69th Ballymena Academy Captain and Irish under 18 cap, Charlie Simpson intercepted a pass on the Ballymena 22 to sprint all the way and score under the Limavady posts. In the last play of the game Caleb Morrison converted to make the final score 22-3.

This was a day of outstanding performances from the Ballymena forwards, David Whann, Timothy Patton and George Hargy made tremendous contributions, ably assisted by the rest of the pack.

With a home fixture to come against Friends School in the quarter final Academy must reduce the penalty count against and improve their out of hand kicking.

Academy: S McNabney, K Galloway, G Hargy, D Whann, M Rea, J Andrew, P Wallace, T Patton, P Banda, C Patterson, N Stirling, C Delpy, C Morrison, M McBride, C Simpson, J Gregg, P McKerr, J McClelland, D Geddis, J Fleming, S Goodrich, P Storey.