Toon put the boot into derby rivals

Coleraine had been in a dog fight at the bottom of the table in the run up to this game but a recent string of good results and has hopefully secured their spot in Qualifying One next year.

Ballymoney were still recovering from Easter Monday’s success and having lost to Limavady the week before were not going to finish the season with a poor performance.

The game finished off with a score of 23-15 in Ballymoney’s favour after a great contest.

The game kicked off and it was clear to see that Coleraine were out to make a go of this game after having been defeated twice already this season.

They used their larger pack to attempts to make inwards through the Ballymoney defence but these came to no avail. The Ballymoney defence stood strong, however a few early penalties were unnecessarily leaked and Coleraine got the first points on the board. Ballymoney refused to stand back and watch and soon got their own penalty points on the board through Martin Irwin.

Sustained pressure then led to Ballymoney’s first try.

Andrew Surgenor struggled his way over the line to score despite a number of defenders trying to stop him. Coleraine came back and also scored a try through their heavy forwards.

The Ballymoney pack fought hard against the Coleraine side and both teams were fairly even. Both back lines were keenly contested too. Strong running from centres Martin Irwin and Chris Beverland created a number of Ballymoney breaks. Chris Beverland was able to take the ball on the charge after a period of sustained pressure from the Ballymoney and put the toon into the lead.

This was responded to in kind by the Coleraine side who scored soon after. The second half was were the game was at fever pitch. Both teams knew that one penalty or one bad decision could give the other team the edge. Martin Irwin was the edge and was able to ghost through the Coleraine defence and outpace the Coleraine back three to cross the line once more for the Ballymoney men taking the score to 23-10. Coleraine upped their game once more in a final flurry to try and take the lead.

They crossed the line again to take the score to 23-15 but were unable to catch Ballymoney, who played clinical rugby in the dieing moments to prevent any opportunity of Coleraine making it back into the game.