Senior Cup drought goes on for Braidmen

It was a heart-breaking finale for John Andrews' side, who were pressing hard for a winning score when firstly Martin Irwin's injury-time try was ruled out for what the referee adjudged to be a knock-on and then Glen Telford intercepted a try to race clear and score a try which gave the visitors a flattering winning margin.

In superb conditions, the two old rivals served up an entertaining encounter, even if both sides were weakened by the loss of players on Ulster Ravens and Irish under-20 duty.

The penalty count was high in the opening quarter and it was Ballymena who drew first blood in the ninth minute when David O'Hara kicked a straight-forward penalty.

That was cancelled out when Dungannon winger, Michael Lawton fired over a long range effort with an accomplished kick from 45 metres.

Worse was to follow as Dungannon's Michael Kirkwood halted a promising Ballymena attack by intercepting on halfway and racing clear to give the visitors a 10-3 lead at the break.

The gap should have ben cut to four as the normally reliable O'Hara missed a fairly simple-looking kick.

He atoned for that blip two minutes after the restart when he broke off a ruck, weaved his way through the despairing defence and race in unopposed under the posts, with the subsequent conversion making it 10 apiece.

O'Hara was again involved shortly afterwards when he put Ballymena back in front with another penalty.

But Dungannon replied once again as Rowan Halsall powered his way through some despairing tackles to scored a try which Lawton converted to put the visitors back in front at 17-13.

Ballymena sought a quick response but instead it was Dungannon who stretched the gap to seven thanks to another Lawton penalty with 10 minutes left.

That was the way it stayed until a minute from the end of normal time when, from a scrum option at a penalty infringement, O'Hara's pass wide to the right looked to have missed all its intended targets, but Kerr did well to gather and raced in at the corner for the try.

A successful conversion would have levelled the scores but O'Hara put his touchline effort wide to the right of the posts.

In the fifth minute of injury time, Ballymena thought they had snatched victory when Martin Irwin's kick and chase saw him touch down but referee Mark Hermin cut short the celebrations by ruling out the score for a knock-on.

And as Ballymena threw caution to the wind, eight minutes into added-on time, Telford picked off a pass and raced clear to put the game beyond Ballymena.

After the disappointment of the cup exit, it's back to the bread-and-butter of the All-ireland League for Ballymena as they attempt to continue their encouraging start to the Division Two promotion charge when they travel to Bective Rangers this Saturday.

Ballymena: Roger McBurney; John Nicholl, Chris Smith, Ali Fraser, Alan Smyth; Martin Irwin, Davy O’Hara; James Carson, Andrew Boyd, James Taggart, Darrell O’Kane (capt), David Whann, Andrew Kerr, Willie McKay, Ross Hackney. Replacements: Ross Connor, Connor Smith, Rory Henderson, Paul Campbell.