Ballymena Seconds overcome old rivals in Towns’ Cup

In truth the scoreline is a bit flattering to the Eaton Park men who for long periods of the game were starved of possession by a hard working Coleraine side who dominated the scrum throughout.

However the home side had a bit more cutting edge when it mattered and tries from Mickey Smith in the fifteenth minute and one deep in injury time from Matthew Harkness saw them safely through to the next round.

Coleraine’s dominance in the scrum gave them early territorial advantage and they took the lead with a Greg Jordan penalty but the home side hit back well and a quick break from Connor Smith saw out-half Paul Campbell take it up and send Mickey Smith through for a try which David O’Hara converted to open a 7-3 lead.

Early in the second-half Ballymena increased their lead when O’Hara was on target from a close range penalty and it appeared the home side were begging to get on top. However the visitors remained dogged and determined and they closed the gap to four points again when Jordan split the uprights from a penalty in the 60th minute.

O’Hara eased stretched the advantage to seven again with a well struck penalty five minutes later and while they never looked like losing from this stage they were never really comfortable and had to rely on some great tackling by their back row to keep their lead intact.

With just minutes of normal time remaining the game was held up for more than 15 minutes when Coleraine’s Stuart Simpson received a bad injury which saw him stretchered from the field by the attending St John Ambulance crew.

When play resumed Ballymena held the upper hand and they put a somewhat flattering look on the scoreline when replacement Matthew Harkness ended a good move on the right wing by going over for a try.

Seconds: John Nicholl, Robbie McGreer, Mike Smith, Daryl Montgomery, Chris Steel, Paul Campbell, David O’Hara, Andrew Ferguson, Craig Wallace, Chris Cundell, Aidi Graham, Chris Smith, Connor Smith, Willy McKay, Adrian Hamilton. Subs – Matthew Harkness, Ian Vance.