PICTURE GALLERY: Schools' Cup Final
BALLYMENA Academy secured a deserved victory in the Schools' Cup final ar Ravenhill.
The Braid boys - last winners in 1981 - had dominated for large parts and although a drop goal was the final difference between the sides, the Co Antrim schoolboys' had just shaded an epic contest.
Hats off to the Belfast Royal Academy players as well for ensuring the neutral among the 8,000 crowd certainly got value for money, after previous finals had been rather one-sided affairs.
Ballymena outhalf, Callum Patterson, may have dropped the goal which was the difference between the sides in the end, but it was try scorer and winger, Caleb Morrison, who walked off with the accolade, of News Letter 'man of the match'.
He just edged out Belfast Royal Academy's No 8, Iain Henderson, who had an outstanding game throughout and was a constant thrown in the eventual winners' side at the breakdown.
Morrison's performance was top notch, both in attack and defence and that gave him the edge over Patterson.
There was one other stand out performance worth noting. That of referee, David Wilkinson. It is often said that when you do not notice the referee it is a good indication of how well he is doing. That was the case for the Enniskillen man yesterday.
It was always expected to be a battle of the packs and in the opening minutes that was evident.
The first lineout, an area where Ballymena were so strong in the semi-final against MCB, saw BRA steal ball through blindside, Vincent Thomas.
At the first scrum, BRA taking the option of the set piece after the Braid boys were pinged for not giving space at the lineout, saw Ballymena turn it over.
However, while the packs were in the spotlight, there were also two tremendously talented backlines on the park - and some great battles developed there as well between two lively backlines who were keen to run ball.
Although BRA had the early possession, they kept it tight and when Ballymena opened up the backline for the first time on six minutes, fullback Charlie Simpson made good ground, but if centre Camille Delpy had stayed on his outside, than coming inside, they could have made better of the opportunity.
And then Ballymena's inside centre, Peter Storey, made a great surge and got through one space, but his pass to find winger, Callum Patterson, was forward.
Not to be outdone, BRA skipper, Conor Spence, having taken a Callum Patterson 'Garryowen' under pressure, secured and from the ruck the offload to BRA outhalf, Stuart Olding, saw him make a tremendous weaving run which gained 50 yards, before Mark Glover received and went into contact.
Ballymena turned the ball over and gave them some respite.
Patterson then had a chance to open the scoring with a long range penalty kick on 15 minutes, but never really got under his effort on the far right off the 10m line and the pulsating game remained scoreless.
That was until, from a little sortie into Ballymena's half five minutes later, BRA's Spence put up a little kick, Ballymena were caught flatfooted and both BRA's Glover and fullback, Jordan Buchanan were chasing, with the latter gathering and running in behind the posts for the opening score.
Prolific kicker, David Cartmill – the hero from the quarter-finals – had a regulation conversion attempt to make it 7-0.
A high tackle by BRA's Matthew Robinson on Patterson, earned him a little lecture from official, David Wilkinson, and Patterson popped the kick into touch and from there, the Braidboys set themselves up on the left.
But as they attempted to drive and maul on, prop Kris Galloway fumbled, but the respite was only brief, a turnover then saw Ballymena trundle towards the scoreline again.
A charge by the pack resulted in a penalty inches from the line, Ballymena opting to set the scrum on 29 minutes.
It looked as though Ballymena had messed it up at the base, but the referee called it back for a knock on by a BRA player. Although Ballymena kept possession, the Belfast defence held firm and there was a tremendous steal from No 8, Henderson.
But it was still Ballymena who were enjoying the possession and territory and finally, from a lovely backline move, fullback, Simpson took a lovely line and popped a reverse pass to Patterson. The big outhalf simply held off his would be tackler with ease and gave the ball to winger, Caleb Morrison, who finished off a great move on 33 minutes.
Patterson superbly converted from near the touchline and things were all square at 7-7 with the second half to come.
BRA opened the second half with vigour, centre Glover made a blistering break and came to within 15m of the line, and then Olding took it on, but his pass outside to Buchanan was high and a golden try scoring chance was lost.
But an offside minutes later saw Cartmill tee up a penalty, but it fell short, safely into Patterson's hand and he hoofed it out at halfway from under his own posts.
It was Ballymena's turn to attack, going with pace down the left flank, but a knock-on from the pack in support saw it turned over.
The Belfast boys then opened up a gear, but they too turned over and Ballymena's Simpson tried to get through the middle, from the ruck, the ball was spun to Patterson in the pocket and his 35m drop goal soared through for a 10-7 lead.
It swung to the other end, with BRA now turning the screw but they were repelled and finally winger, Robinson, was penalised for holding on the ground.
The same player got BRA into attacking phase again when he sniped in during some close interchanges by Ballymena, put the pack lost possession in the maul and the Braid boys were coming more into the tie again.
Lock, Matthew Rea made a good trundle up to the Belfast '22', but scrumhalf, Pumulo Banda, saw the offload bounce forward off his arm.
The race was on for the line when a kick ahead was chased down by Ballymena's Delpy, but BRA winger, Eoin Devlin got in ahead of him to win the race for the touchdown.
Then Simpson launched an attack on the right after blindside Timothy Patton had made the initial surge – but BRA's defence held firm.
Finally, BRA's discipline slipped and Patterson lined up a kick on the hour mark, but the penalty shot came off the left pole.
There were anxious moments for Ballymena when Patterson and Simpson clashed heavily going for a high ball, but they are made off stern stuff in Ballymena and both were unhurt.
With time running down, BRA outhalf Olding made a magnificent surge and then a teasing kick ahead was gathered by Banda, the diminutive scrumhalf taking the ball well.
BRA battled to the end, and fired everything at Ballymena, Robinson making a last gasp dash for the line, but was held up.
Then a crucial turnover with seconds on the clock, 10m out looked to have done the trick for the Ballymena.
But the Belfast side had one last roll of the dice, and having broken the gain line again through Robinson, they were again thwarted at the breakdown, lost possession and Ballymena kicked it out thinking time was up.
There was still time for the lineout, but although BRA secured ball they again could not retain it and finally the celebrations could begin for Ballymena.
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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