Ballymoney 2nd XV played hosts to Ballynahinch 3rd XV on Saturday in their 6th league game of the season, The Toon men were eagerly looking to get back at it after a two-week break.

The game kicked off well-balanced however, with the weather taking a turn the downpours resulted in a lot of dropped balls from both teams. The toon men’s scrum dominance played a key role in the supply of forward running ball to Jonny Linton and the back line.

First points of the day came on the 20-minute mark from Dave McKeeman. One of his many solid runs resulted in barrelling through the Hinch line to score, with Jonny Linton adding the extras. Hinch, not to be left out, quickly hit back to draw the scores level.

Ballymoney applied a lot of pressure on to their opponents which resulted in a Hinch infringement and a penalty within kicking distance to put the Money men back in the lead finishing the half at 10-7.

The second half got underway but not the way Ballymoney would’ve liked, conceding a try in the opening 5 minutes try being converted 14-10 to Hinch.

A McKeeman infringement resulted in a 10 minute rest meaning the home side had to dig deep to keep Hinch at bay. The Money men started to turn the screw and the visitors' poor discipline resulted in a penalty with Marc Tweed slotting it nicely between the sticks, score line now 14-13. A close back-and-forth battle between the two teams provided Tweed the opportunity to grab another 3 points, kick successful which put the home side in the lead.

With 5 minutes to go Money stretched their lead with a catch-and-drive maul and a hard final drive from McKeeman. Final whistle Ballymoney win 21-14.
An excellent effort from 1-18 today; a real team performance and great to get another win. The team want to pass on their best wishes to Matthew McConaghy on his broken hand, an injury occurred in the game today.

Our sights are now set on this Saturday’s game against Enniskillen at home in the opening round of the Crawford Cup.

Ballymoney RFC

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