Dromore HS claim the Trophy again

Dromore High School are the Danske Bank High Schools' Trophy champions again.
Dromore HS Captain Ben Heath shows off the Trophy as his team begin their celebrations.Dromore HS Captain Ben Heath shows off the Trophy as his team begin their celebrations.
Dromore HS Captain Ben Heath shows off the Trophy as his team begin their celebrations.

They smashed Ballyclare HS 31-0 in a one-sided final at the Kingspan Stadium on Wednesday.

It was a close contest in the first 15 minutes with most of the play between the 22m lines but that didn’t last.

Soon Dromore’s Peter O’Connor took his chance and stormed over in the corner for the first points of the day. Ballyclare responded with a good break by Ross Warren but he was brought down just short of the goal line.

Dromore captain Ben Heath collects the High Schools' Trophy.Dromore captain Ben Heath collects the High Schools' Trophy.
Dromore captain Ben Heath collects the High Schools' Trophy.

Just before half time, Dromore were on the attack again, an excellent break from captain Ben Heath saw him skilfully distribute the ball to his fullback who accelerated down the wing to score in the corner for a half-time score of 10-0.

Dromore continued to pile on the pressure but a strong Ballyclare defence held them at bay. With 40 minutes gone, Dromore fired a quick ball wide, which was picked up by centre Matthew Corbett who ran in from 10m out to score close to the posts. This time the conversion was successfully slotted by James Smith.

Ballyclare responded with a sustained period of pressure in the DHS 22. However, they could not permeate the strong Dromore defence. Eventually the boys in blue were able to clear their lines.

An excellent break and offload from captain Johnston Kirkpatrick provided Jake Semple with an Secondary School opportunity on the wing, however good defence from Dromore bundled him into touch.

Dromore captain Ben Heath collects the High Schools' Trophy.Dromore captain Ben Heath collects the High Schools' Trophy.
Dromore captain Ben Heath collects the High Schools' Trophy.

Minutes later, Dromore were successful at the lineout on the Ballyclare 10m line, impressive backrow play put Dromore on the front foot and Richard Dickson barged over for their fourth try. Smith was successful with the conversion.

With just two minutes to go, Ballyclare lost the ball from a penalty deep in their own half and scrumhalf James Smith took his chance and crossed the whitewash to cement his team’s impressive win.

He added two points from the tee and celebrated a well earned victory with his team mates.

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