Defeat in Athlone confirms AIL relegation for First XV

The Braidmen’s relegation from Division 1B of the Ulster Bank All-Ireland League – which had been briefly delayed after their win against Bruff in their previous fixture – was confirmed at the weekend after they lost 9-6 at Buccaneers.

With nothing to lose, Ballymena moved the ball around, running hard lines at the Buccaneers defence with good link ups between Montgomery, Foster and Nichol.

On 20 minutes Ballymena were awarded penalty when the Buccaneers tackler wouldn’t roll away. Having missed an early penalty, Callum Patterson made no mistake this time as he dispatched the ball between the posts to give Ballymena a 3-0 lead.

On 28 minutes it was Buccaneers’ turn to kick at the posts after the braid men were adjudged to be offside. The resulting penalty was kicked to level the score.

Buccaneers were now starting to take control of the game and were now camped in the Ballymena half. It was from this pressure that saw Buccaneers awarded a second penalty in front of the posts which was duly converted.

Three minutes before the interval, Ballymena were given the chance to level the scores when Buccaneers were penalised for holding on in the tackle. Callum Patterson added the points to make the half time score 6-6.

The second half started the same way the first ended with the young Braidmen on the attack. Ballymena were linking up well and putting together some great moves but just couldn’t find an opening in the Buccaneers defence.

With time running out Buccaneers found themselves in the Ballymena half after a prolonged period of Ballymena pressure. The Athlone side were awarded a penalty after a Ballymena infringement in the breakdown and their out-half slotted the ball over to take the score to 9-6.

Ballymena: J Carson, J Andrews, M Irving, D Whann, M Rea, A Hamilton, W McKay, S Mulholland, I Vance, M Irwin, D Montgomery, C Patterson, R Andrew, J Foster, J Nichol. Subs: A Ferguson, J Taggert, C Smith, N Stirling, J McMullan.