Dalriada Tigers roar to great victory at Ballymena Academy

AFTER a number of weeks with no game the Dalriada Tigers travelled to Ballymena Academy and came away with a well deserved win.

On a heavy pitch the Tigers played a passing game which proved very successful and playing against a much bigger team they tackled well and their movement and passing was excellent.

Although the early play was dominated by Ballymena, the Dalriada defence held firm and won overturned ball at a ruck from which Lewis McAuley released James Allen who passed to Daniel Steele who fed Luke Clements on the overlap. Luke ran wide of the Ballymena defence and scored in the corner.

Five minutes later Dalriada went further ahead when Henry Ross scored a well deserved try.

Ballymena responded immediately and after some loose tackling by the Dalriada defence their winger scored a good try. Dalriada went on the attack from the kickoff and following a period of good pressure Lewis McAuley was on hand to take a pass and score beside the posts. The half time whistle went with the score 15-5 to Dalriada.

The second half continued with Dalriada pressing forward at every opportunity and putting Ballymena under pressure. A period of sustained forward play by Ballymena led to one of their forwards scoring. With the score at 15-10 the Dalriada forwards worked good ball from a series of rucks to present a score for David Dysart who charged over from five metres, leaving the score 20-10 in favour of Dalriada.

From the Ballymena kickoff, the ball was gathered by James Allen, who made ground before passing to Jack Murdock who got tackled on the halfway line. From the ruck Lewis McAuley and James Allen combined well and released Daniel Steele who took on the Ballymena defence and scored.

With a few minutes of play remaining Ballymena scored a try after good forward play.

The final whistle left the score at 25 – 15 in favour of the Dalriada Tigers.

This was a great team effort and result and it was refreshing to see players running and handling the ball well in poor conditions. There were notable performances from Lewis McAuley, James Allen, Daniel Steele, Jack Murdock, David Dysart, Jack Nevin and newcomer Luke Clements.

The Man of the Match was Lewis McAuley, who had an outstanding game at scrumhalf.

Team: Mark Crawford, Thomas Clarke, Henry Ross, Daniel McCollum, Daniel Steele, James Allen(Capt), Lewis McAuley, Jack Murdock, Luke Clements, Jack Nevin, David Dysart,Jack Brown David Currie, Sam Dooey, Josh Watson, Danny and Jack McIlwrath.