Threes edge it against Derryin the cup

In a thrilling finish to the game, the mighty threes snatched victory from the visitors’ grasp, turning out victors 21 points to 17.

Having gone under to a powerful Grosvenor side the previous week, Ballymoney were keen to exert some sort of control in this game and reassert themselves on the pitch.

The visitors had other plans.

Weather conditions were perfect at Kilraughts Road for open running rugby and that’s exactly what the Derry men had in mind as they received the opening kick of the game.

With a powerful pack at their disposal they set about their game plan with ease, bruising their way into the Toon half.

A combination of missed tackles and poor decision making handed the early advantage to the visitors and it was only frantic defence that was to keep Derry out.

Ballymoney were fortunate to have the returning boot of Thomas Skelton to rely on.

On several occasions he quite literally took the toon out of hole.

However, even the little magician could not thwart Derry’s first score of the day.

Again, a mistake in the ranks set in motion a series of counter attacks that even the mighty threes could not defend.

The visitors powered their way over in the corner.

Captain Johnson was not amused and made the boys aware of the fact. 7 nil to Derry.

From the restart, Ballymoney had a little more fire in their bellies.

Tackles were now that bit harder, the visitors were not getting as much time on the ball and all in all, the home side had woken up! Skelton jnr was now finding his range with the boot.

Majestic touches kept the visitors pinned into their half. However, despite the ‘training’ things were just not functioning in the lineout. The odd knock on, the odd line out pinched by the Derry men, this was proving to be a difficult day at the office for the Toon men. However, on the mighty threes battled and we eventually got the break we deserved.

The never say die attitude that typifies the threes performances, enabled them to score late in the half.

By no means the prettiest of tries, however well finished by that terrier Kirkpatrick. The conversion was added. 7 all at half time.

McIlvenna burst into the line once again, side stepping three players to cruise under the posts.

A fantastic individual score from a popular lad in the camp, a pity about the accent!

The conversion was added by Skelton jnr. 14-7 to the threes.

Not to be outdone, the visitors upped their game on the restart and again from a Toon mistake, capitalised by scoring a try of their own. The conversion was missed. Johnson was furious.

The scores had narrowed to 14-12.

If that was not bad enough, the next period of play saw a nervous Toon trying to clear their lines.

Yet again, a mistake was to hand the advantage to the visitors. The kick charged down, dropped nicely to Derry, and they pounced on the chance to take the lead. Again, the conversion was missed. Ballymoney were 14-17 down, and there was only 15 mins to play.

From the restart, the Toon were frantic about the pitch. Driving runs from all areas were putting the visitors under pressure.

the pressure was too much for Derry.

Stealing a ball at the lineout, Skelton senior forgot about his arthritis to power his way towards the line, off loading to Campbell who fed the backline.

As the ball was flung out wide, the last man in the Derry defence threw out a struggling arm to knock the ball on illegally. The referee was strong, and immediately awarded a penalty try. Derry, professionally accepted his decision, the conversion was added. 21-17 to the Toon!

A fantastic game of entertaining rugby, the threes now progress into the quarter final stage, where they yet again have a home draw. Johnson was in a much more buoyant mood this week after the game.

‘What a game,either side could have won it there,” he said.

“There was a lot of grit shown out there today.

“Thankfully we came through. We haven’t been playing our style of rugby for a while now, however the fact is we are grinding out the results and that takes character. And boy is our squad full of that!

“A big shout goes out to stalwart of the team Jimmy Reid who is bed ridden at the moment with flu.”