The U16s came through a very tough league playoff semi-final against a well drilled Monaghan U16s. Ballymena had the majority of possession on the first half, unfortunately there was an early casualty with Sean O’Brien having to be taken off after making a try saving tackle on the wing.
Ballymena kept the pressure on with storming runs from James Orr and James Lynn but falling just short of the line with some great defending by Monaghan.
Ballymena were encamped in Monaghan territory for this half of the match forcing the away side onto the back foot but they stood firm and Ballymena could not break through.
Although close to the half time whistle there a glimmer of hope when Alfie Logan received the ball from Fintan Brady and nearly broke the deadlock with a darting run on the Monaghan 5m line but again the defence held tight. The first half ended scoreless.
The second half saw Monaghan start to apply a bit more pressure to the Ballymena defence moving the ball to the wing numerous times, but Ballymena held out with try saving tackles from Daniel McKane and Roddy McNeill to name but a few. Ballymena started to put more pressure onto Monaghan in the middle of the second half. Fintan Brady was moving the ball well to the backs and controlled the game well with numerous phases of play ending with a storming run through the centre by Cruz McNally scoring just to the left of the posts, James Orr converted the try to make the score 7 -0 to Ballymena. A close of the second half saw Ballymena camped on their own try line but defended defiantly to deny Monaghan a score.
