Ballyclare move on to senior promotion goal after trophy double

Formed in 1949, Ballyclare will represent Ulster in the round-robin play-off with the winner promoted to the All Ireland League. Ballyclare face Creggs of Connacht in the semi-final for the chance to then tackle either Monkstown or Thomond.

“Reaching the All Ireland Junior Cup final for a second time was really special," said Ballyclare coach Mike Orchin-McKeever. “We have a good strike rate with the amount of cups we have won over the last few years but for the players to get that one done the way they did was really special.

“Finally getting the league is also respected as it was the first time ever, so it was a huge achievement by the extended squad over the whole season and the consistency over the whole season really.

"The last couple of seasons we have had 16 wins out of 18 matches in both league campaigns...you learn from losses, but you’d rather learn from wins.

“If I’m being honest, we have a group of lads that currently know no different – they are just used to winning. David Gillispie captained the school a year ago, it’s his first year out of school and has just won the league and the All Ireland Junior Cup.

“We have a handful of others in their second year out of school...Peter Gillispie, Luke McIlwrath, Owen Warren, Alex Darragh – they have won a Junior Cup, a Towns Cup, All Ireland Junior Cup and the league in two seasons of rugby outside U18s. But there have been plenty of players along the way who have tasted the rough to now enjoy the delight of winning a league title.”

Success has brought fixture congestion for Ballyclare.

“I think you should try to frame things to suit the world that you live in for the most positive outlook but the reality is the boys went through an All Ireland Junior Cup campaign without a single home game and went round all the provinces,” he said. “The league season that we have in Ulster is 18 competitive fixtures, you look at other provinces that have less teams in their league with less fixtures. So you look at that and the resilience it brings on to you, you are match fit and battle-hardened but it also forces you to go through big squad numbers and gives boys more experience to play.”

All roads league to Ashbourne on Saturday afternoon for the semi-final clash with the Connacht champions.

“Early kick-off against Creggs at 1pm then the other semi-final follows straight after,” said Orchin-McKeever. “A bit of focus, a bit of calmness and, hopefully, we can execute a game plan and enjoy the rest of the afternoon before, hopefully, enjoying a final against the winners of Munster or Leinster.

“We know very little about Creggs, we know they have topped that championship two years in a row.

“The Connacht league is slightly different to ours, I assume they are going to be an expansive team as they have scored quite a lot of points this season and they have a resilient enough defence.”