IN PICTURES: Banbridge pick up the points against Malone

But that pleasure will have been tempered by the inevitable feeling that the 4-1 league points tally in the home side’s favour should have been 5-0. After 45 minutes play Bann had opened up a 22-3 lead and needed just one more try for the bonus point that would have taken them level in Energia All-Ireland League Division 1B with their Belfast rivals, as the teams battle it out to avoid a relegation play-off at the end of the season.

But that fourth try never materialised. Instead a Malone side which had been out-played for much of the first hour, hit back with a 62nd minute converted try before grabbing the last-minute touchdown which brought them within the seven-point margin that earned a losing bonus point.

However, Bann coach Mark McDowell said after the game that he was hugely pleased to get the win.

He said: “First and foremost, today was about winning the game. There was disappointment that we didn’t go on and get the fourth try and also that Malone got a losing bonus point.

“But winning was the most important thing and for the first 50 or so minutes of the game I thought we played brilliantly. We completely controlled the game and dominated large facets of it.”

That Malone comeback owed much to a series of penalties conceded by the Rifle Park team which undid much of the good work which had gone before. Time and again the home side fell foul of the referee’s interpretation of the laws, with hard-fought territory given up to allow Malone a foothold which they capitalised on to telling effect.

The dynamic running of Peter Cromie played a large part in Bann’s opening score, with out-half Andrew Morrison fielding ruck ball to force his way over the line from five metres out. Adam Doherty’s conversion took his side seven points in front with 14 minutes played.

Malone enjoyed their best period of pressure of the first half in the eight minutes that followed. But they were getting no change out of a Bann defence that was quickly out of the blocks to snuff out any threat to their line. Malone were still in possession but being steadily driven back when Bann conceded a penalty which Callum Smith converted from 35 metres out for a 7-3 scoreline.

Doherty’s penalty on the half hour restored Bann’s seven-point advantage and as the home side continued to call the shots Callum Reid collected Morrison’s chip behind the Malone defence to make good ground, only for his off-load to be knocked on just inside the visitors’ “22”.

Eight minutes before half-time Doherty collected a Malone kick just inside his own half and linked with Conor Field. The right winger’s blistering pace took him close to the Malone “22” where he kicked in-field. Joe Finnegan grubbered the ball skilfully into the visitors’ in-goal, setting up a three-man chase. But all three players in contention for the touchdown wore Bann jerseys and it was Finnegan’s centre partner Ben Carson who just made it before his team-mates, with Doherty just failing to add the extras.

When Cromie finished off a lineout-maul move five minutes after the break, with Doherty converting, and given the previous balance of play, it seemed it would be only a matter of time before the bonus point try would materialise.

Malone had struggled throughout to win any kind of quality lineout possession. But Bann’s indiscipline at the breakdown gave the visitors ample opportunities and even with minority success out-of-touch they were able to set up hooker Clayton Milligan for the 62nd minute try, converted by Rory Campbell, that opened up the possibility of not leaving Rifle Park empty-handed.

Finnegan’s searing break through the Malone lines should have yielded that fourth try for his side but the attempted link-up with Doherty broke down with the line beckoning. And when Malone found their way back into home territory on the back of yet more penalties, a final surge was finished off by flanker Dave Cave. Campbell’s failed conversion attempt was the last act of a game which left Malone holding a two-point lead over their provincial rivals in the AIL League table with five games remaining.

McDowell was left bemused by the number of penalties his team had conceded in the last quarter of the game. “I’ll have a good look at the video of the game, but I do believe that we were somewhat harshly penalised at times. Unfortunately, that gave Malone a little bit of entry back into the game and disrupted us to the extent that we couldn’t get back into our stride again.

“Our pack targeted their lineout – Rob (Logan) and Charlie (Farrell) had done a lot of great work with our forwards and the guys went out and executed the plan. That starting pack was selected specifically to target their lineout and I thought we did that really, really, well.

“We had two big opportunities to get that fourth try – we had a scrum five metres out but we didn’t support Robin (Sinton) quickly enough after his pick-up from the base and we got turned over. And then we couldn’t finish off after Joe Finnegan’s break – that was particularly disappointing.

“Still, it shows that when we can get the pack out that we had today, with Chris Allen and Alex Thompson back in the row, and both going the full 80 minutes and playing as well as they did – well, that was really pleasing.

“The two of them certainly made a big impact on their return to the team.

“We’ve gone from desperately looking for a win to not being totally satisfied with one. We seem to have come out of that game without any fresh injury concerns, so it’s a case of backing up that win with another one at Naas next week and then obviously Navan the week after that.”

Bann team v Malone: Adam Doherty, Conor Field, Joe Finnegan, Ben Carson, Josh Cromie, Andrew Morrison, Neil Kilpatrick, Callum Reid, Peter Cromie (Captain), Stuart Cromie, Chris Allen, Alexander Thompson, Max Lyttle, Matthew Laird, Robin Sinton. Replacements: Josh Chambers, Michael Cromie, Ryan Hughes, Alexander Weir, Aaron Kennedy, Ross Cartmill.