Ballymena under 18s travelled to the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday with hopes of lifting the Bowman cup for only the 4th time. In a thrilling and close game with Armagh the Braidmen left disappointed, losing by 6 points.
Ballymena started the better team, fly half James Orr dictating play and getting his pack moving through the Armagh defence, he was rewarded by slotting over a penalty on 10 minutes, a just return for Ballymena’s early attack intent and territory. However, Armagh struck back with a penalty of their own on 14 minutes to level the scores.
Ballymena pressed again and number 8 Tyrese Dunlop crossed the whitewash for the first try of the game, a short burst to the line after a number of phases of play and a Ballymena penalty, James Orr added the extras to make the score Ballymena 10 Armagh 3. This try must have settled Ballymena’s nerves as they had drawn with Armagh in the league playoff final earlier in the year 12-12, Armagh taking the glory as they had scored the first try on that occastion.
The game then swayed back to Armagh who scored a try on 24 minutes after being awarded a penalty at close range, score 10-8.
Ballymena started to fall foul of the referee and a series of penalties and a total of 5 yellow cards through made it hard for them to get any grip on the game; but quick thinking and a swiftly taken penalty from scrum half Sam Craig saw Ballymena extend their lead on 28 minutes despite being down to 14 men, score 17-8.
Ballymena looked to be dealing with the opposition’s superior numbers, but Armagh rallied again claimed a try on the stroke of half time to narrow the deficit to 17-13.
The second half saw Armagh dominate possession and territory as their superior numbers as Ballymena’s constant infringements around the breakdown added up. They were reduced to 14 men for much of the second half, and down to 13 at a time. However the Braidmen defended bravely but an Armagh try seemed inevitable and they scored on 60 minutes to take the lead for the first time by 3 points.
Ballymena pressed again and had an opportunity to level the score with a difficult long range penalty, unfortunately for the team the ball sailed passed the post. Armagh extended their lead to 6 points with a penalty of their own in the final minutes of the game, final score 17-23.
