Win for Ballymoney Seconds despite difficult conditions

Ballymoney dominated both territory and possession. Some excellent kicking from Young and McCrea kept Randalstown pinned in their own half. But the wind also made it hard to find the right pass, so several early chances went astray - Andrew Young breaking the line on one occasion, but not finding the last pass, and then Gary Pattison on a kick return just running out of options in the corner.

A penalty was conceded in front of the posts which Young converted. Ballymoney continued to press, making yards around the fringes with good carries in particular from McCollum and Andy Brown, and brother Aaron Brown puching above his weight from the centres. The scrum also had the upper hand throughout, David McKeeman getting his hands on a lot of Randalstown’s ball at the front of the lineout.

When a try came, it was from a similar series of possession, good carries from the forwards sucked in the fringe defense, for Young to find a gap and sneak through with Russell Irwin in support to score beside the posts. Young converted for a 10-0 advantage.

Andrew Millar came on for Andy Brown to start the second half, and immediately got into his stride, carrying at pace from the kick off, and appearing around the corner for the second ruck, looking to make his mark on the game. But the support was a fraction slow, and a penalty conceded for holding on allowed Randalstown to kick a penalty from the half way line to open their account.

The second half continued in much the same vein, Pollock and Borthwick came on for Park and Hewitt, both bringing some fresh legs to continue the effort. The closing exchanges saw Randalstown trying to run everything, but getting pinned back well in their own half by a solid blue line. A couple more reset scrums, and the game was over. 10-6 to the home side.