McCarter inspires Judges Road men to narrow win

The first half belonged to Derry as they got to the break with a 12-5 lead.

However after the break the match will not live in the memory for too long except for all the wrong reasons as the play became fractured and the attitude of both teams became more fractious as the half progressed.

The game started amid torrential rain that prevailed form early morning and continued throughout. The early pressure was all from Derry as their back row of Stephen Ferguson, Richard Baird and Stephen Dickey were winning the battle of the breakdown.

Ballymena eventually got some time in the game and their out half Rory Drysdale missed a kickable penalty shot on sixteen minutes.

The game was evenly contested at this stage but a mistake cost Derry dearly on 23 minutes, possession was lost while running a ball out of defence on the half way line. Ballymena hacked the ball forward down the line and with insufficient cover wing forward Mike Entwhistle touched down for an unconverted try and a 5-0 lead.

Ballymena had all the pressure and on 28 minutes but with men over they selected to drop a goal from 15 metres in front of the posts and missed.

Moments later Derry made them pay when awarded a penalty on their own 22 metre line, scrum half Jack Caithness took a quick tap and beat three men taking play to the half way line. Caithness had the vision to see Simon Logue running loose on the left wing and with a cross field kick he found Logue in his stride to kick forward and beat a man to touch down in the corner for a wonderful unconverted try to leave the score 5-5.

Derry winger Simon Logue made a great break out of his own 22 to relieve pressure on 35 minutes and when he linked with full back William McCleery play was brought to the Ballymena five metre line to setup a lineout. Hooker David Ferguson found the towering Chris Cooper with line out ball and following a forward drive for the line Jack Caithness was on hand to pickup and dive between legs to touch down for a try and with McCarter converting it was 12-5 for the Judges Road men which was the score at the break,

The home side started the half on the attack and were rewarded within two minutes when Richard McCarter kicked a penalty to put them 15-5 in front.

That was to be the last score of the game for Derry as the standard of play deteriorated with too much niggle and personal scores to be settled. Rory Drysdale kicked a penalty of Ballymena after 48 minutes to reduce the deficit to 15-8.

The referee took action on 57 minutes when Ballymena had wing forward Conor Smyth sent to the bin for 10 minutes. The frustration among the players continued as tempers flared and the referee issued red cards to Andrew Semple and Ballymena’s Mike Entwhistle.

Soon after Derry lost another man to the sin bin when Stephen Ferguson was given a yellow card.

Ballymena capitalised on their numerical advantage on 66 minutes when following a number of forward drives Conor Smyth got in for an unconverted try which left the score 15-13 in Derry’s favour.

Ballymena were given a chance to win the game in stoppage time when they were awarded a penalty 40 metres out. Rory Drysdale had a shot at goal in front of the posts but he pulled his kick wide of the posts.

Mark Nicholl’s side now travel Rainey on Saturday in the first round of the Ulster Senior Cup.

City of Derry: Steven Jefferson, David Ferguson, Sam Duffy, Chris Cooper, Stephen Corr, Richard Baird, Stephen Dickey, Stephen Ferguson, Jack Caithness, Richard McCarter, Simon Logue, Ryan Campbell, David Funston, David Graham, Peter Henderson. Replacements: Ross Harkin, Ross Scott, David Houston, Adam Bratton, Andrew Semple.