Ballymena 6 Clontarf 36
Ballymena resumed AIB AIL duty with a home encounter against high flying Clontarf who have got their sights set on a top four finish. On the day they were the better team and ran out winners by 36 points to 6. To totally criticise the home team for a bad display would be wrong because throughout the match they had as much possession, if not more, as Clontarf but what each team did with the possession was the difference and the scoreline reflects that. Clontarf were superb defensively and wherever Ballymena got possession their progress was thwarted by the big visiting pack and on the odd occasion they got through, the backs quickly nullified any danger. On the other hand Ballymena, who have been sound defensively in most matches this season, were all at sea when Clontarf were on the attack. There were gaps galore and the ease with which some of the tries was scored was unbelievable. Twice in the first half Ballymena were within a whisker of scoring a try but the ball was dropped at the crucial moment. In the second half it was the same scenario but this time Clontarf took advantage of the situation and went the length of the pitch to score a try. Quite often Ballymena seemed to be comfortably in possession but then the ball would come out on the Clontarf side. Ballymena started the match with the wind at their back but a lot of their kicking from hand seemed to be aimless and just gave the ball away to the visitors. Apart from this they did well in the early stages of the match and wereunder no pressure. However in the 9th minute from a line-out in mid Ballymena half there appeareed to be no danger but then a Clontarf player just appeared with a clear run to the line and scored the first try. Ballymena responded well to this and took the game to Clontarf but a superb defence made any Ballymena penetration difficult but they stuck to the task and the game was played in the visitors half for long periods. Ballymena forced a series of penalties and David Drake slotted over two to give Ballymena the lead by 6 points to 5. Ballymena continued to press but the defence held firm and the first half seemed to be fading away when Clontarf came alive. They took the game to Ballymena and put them under pressure from a couple of line-outs and then forced another line-out in the left corner. They took the ball off the top, set the backs running and the inside centre scored under the posts for an easy conversion so instead of going in one point in the lead at the interval Ballymena were 6 points in arrears. Ballymena started the second half in a lively manner but soon found out that Clontarf were going to use the wind to put the ball deep into the Ballymena half and play the game there. However Ballymena didn't panic and had a good phase of play in which they kept the ball from Clontarf for about 5 minuites but it was all near the middle of the pitch and didn't threaten the visitors line. Then against the run of play with Ballymena in possession Clontarf stole the ball and set the backs running which resulted in a converted try. This was a setback that seemed to upset the home side and any semblance of teamwork they had seemed to disappear and their defence just went to pieces. Clontarf ran in 3 more tries as Ballymena were all at sea and completed a convincing win. The only good thing to come out of Saturday's fixtures was the fact that the six teams at the bottom of the AIB AIL lost so they are no worse off than before Saturday but they are not out of the relegation mix. With matches away to St. Marys and Cork Con points are going to be difficult to come by there but the crunch match in between these is a home match against Harlequins who are still rooted to the bottom of the table. Ballymena must get something out of this and then I think they will be safe from relegation. Of course other matches will also have a bearing on this so it will be an interesting finish to the league. Ballymena: J Smith;A Maxwell, J McGrugan, J Burgess (C Smith 61), J Topping; S Young, D Drake (C Woods 55); A Kirkpatrick (P Steenkamp 9), M Harshaw (S Douglas 60), S Shawe, I Caldwell, B Young, A Graham, G Moore, C Henry.
