Win gives Braidmen glimmer of hope in relegation battle

Defeat would have almost certainly rubber-stamped the Braidmen’s drop into the third tier of Irish club rugby but their performance was not one which suggested there was any pressure on the young Ballymena side.

On 15 minutes and against the run of play, Bruff were awarded a penalty with their first venture into the Braidmen’s half. The out-half dispatched the ball between the posts for a 3-0 lead.

Five minutes later, Ballymena won a penalty at a scrum in their own half. Ill discipline and back chat from the braid men saw the referee reverse his original decision giving Bruff the penalty. Bruff made Ballymena pay by adding three more points.

Andy Graham’s side opened their account when, following a spell in the Bruff ‘22’, the dominant Ballymena forwards took a series of crash balls which ended in Connor Smith going over to the right of the posts. Davy O’Hara added the conversion to put Ballymena ahead 7-6.

From the restart, the Bruff scrum forced Ballymena to give away yet another penalty. Bruff re-took the lead with resulting kick, 7-9.

With Ballymena camped in the Bruff ‘22’, a super grubber kick through the Bruff defence saw a mix up at their dead ball line that allowed Ulster contracted player Ricky Andrew to pounce on the ball to score. Davy O’Hara hit the post with his conversion attempt with Ballymena now 12-9 ahead.

Just before the interval, Ballymena domination, was rewarded when tight head prop Mark Irving crashed over in the corner. Davy O’Hara slotted over a great kick from the touch line to make the half time score 19-9.

Ballymena started the second half strongly and soon found themselves being awarded a penalty for repeat offences from Bruff in the breakdown. Davy O’Hara again slotted the ball over to extend the lead to 22-9.

Ten minutes into the second period, loose head prop Andrew Warwick had to be replaced after what looked to be a bad ankle injury. This saw replacement Jimmy Carson make his return to senior rugby after a injury had forced him to the sidelines for most of the season.

On the hour mark, the home side were awarded a scrum and with the Ballymena pack so dominant, the referee had no choice but to award a bonus point penalty try. Davy O’Hara added his easiest kick of the day to take the score to 29-9.

Ballymena found themselves with a man advantage as Bruff was shown a yellow card for dissent after the penalty try but Ballymena were unable to take advantage and with the visitors back to full strength, a great team move saw them score in the corner for the last score of the game.

Ballymena will realistically need to win all their three remaining games, the first of them this Saturday when they host UCD in a match which was called off recently due to the weather.

Ballymena: A Warwick, J Andrew, M Irving, D Whann, D Caldwell, C Smith, W McKay, S Mulholland, D O’Hara, M Irwin, D Montgomery, C Patterson, R Andrew, J Foster, J Nichol Subs: J Taggert, I Vance, J Carson, M Rea, A Hamilton.