The U18s confirmed their league play-off place with a convincing 45-0 victory in Letterkenny this weekend, they will now have the opportunity to defend the Provincial League title that they won last year.
The team will be delighted that they have finished top of the table which means that they should get a home draw through the league play offs and cup ties to come.
In the Letterkenny game Ballymena started brightly with some scintillating running rugby which was hard for the underpowered home side to deal with. Winger Daniel Kelly opened the scoring from a line out in the opposition 22, a maul pulled in the opposition defenders before a slick backs move made space for Kelly to cross the line. Ben Shaw scored soon afterwards, a Letterkenny kicked clearance was well fielded by the Ballymena defence and a series of passes saw the Braidmen unpick the opposition defence and Shaw scored a great team try.
Scrum half Ryan Thom scored try number 3 in similar fashion, again slick handling and brilliant support play saw Ballymena thread their way through the opposition, keeping the bal alive through offloads all the way to the tryline.
Further scores from Jonny Wylie, Zach Carmichael, Craig Houston and a second for Daniel Kelly secured a comfortable victory for the under 18s team who now move on to play Virginia again in the play off semi final.
