Ballymoney Under-17s defeated away to league leaders

On Saturday 16 November Ballymoney U17s travelled to the league leaders Dromore with 13 fit players and a half fit Gary Balmer. Although they lost by 31-5, they were definitely not disgraced,especially when they lost two players to injuries early in the second half.

On a fine day for running rugby the Ballymoney lads found themselves pinned in their own half during the early encounters. Dromore made use of the extra man running the ball wide at every opportunity and controlled the forward encounters during the half. Weak tackling also didn’t help the U17s and this allowed Dromore to score three converted tries in quick succession leaving the halftime score 21-0 to Dromore.

After some stern encouragement at halftime the lads commenced the second half with an improved attitude and took the game to Dromore and this led to Ben Graham scoring an unconverted try when the forwards surged over the Dromore line. The forwards kept pressing the Dromore line with Gary Balmer and Nathanial McCollum driving forward, only to be thwarted by the resolute and uncompromising Dromore defence.

The U17s then lost Gary Balmer and Gavin Thompson in quick succession, andto injuries and this opened the door for Dromore to score two unconcerned tries. Dromore then lost a player to injury and the game came to a close with Dromore winning by 31 -5.

The U17s did not let the Club down and demonstrated this by their second half performance, especially with 12 men. However their tackling and decision making will need to improve.

Man of the Match was Tommy McMillan who had a fine game at outside centre and who pipped Ben Graham at the post.