Ballyclare in AIL promotion play-off boost after 'ambition was very positive'
Ballyclare reached the AIL 2C promotion play-offs after producing a strong second-half performance against Tullamore to secure Saturday’s 51-27 bonus point win.
Mike Orchin-McKeever’s side had trailed 20-14 at the break but scored five second-half tries in the sunshine at the Cloughan to set up a semi-final at Skerries on Easter Saturday.
“The target at the start of the season was to hit play-offs and then assess near the end what to go for,” said Ballyclare head coach Orchin-McKeever. “I think going into the Tullamore game we could have finished anywhere between second and fifth.”
Tullamore travelled to Co Antrim needing a win to have any chance of avoiding relegation and put it up to Ballyclare, especially in the opening half.
“Tullamore played with a lot of heart and determination and they were very good in the opening 40 minutes...second half I’m not sure if it was our conditioning or player rotation from the bench had the strongest impact but I think our ambition was very positive,” said Orchin-McKeever after Ballyclare out-scored Tullamore by seven tries to three. “All of credit to Tullamore, we finally wore them down and they gave it their all and I think we got luck on a couple of scores.
“Maybe on reflection, our discipline and execution in the first half was poor but you are dealing with what is in front of you at the time.
“We scored a couple of great team tries and a few solo moments of genius which I believe comes from lots of hours of training and different scenarios and players working off the ball to allow players on the ball to make better decisions.
"We’ll reflect on Tullamore and try to improve on it but we have essentially two weeks to recover and improve for a one-off semi-final where literally anything can happen.
“We have had this season a lot of learning from our away games, we have had a lot of close calls on the road with two draws, losing bonus points with try bonus points.
“It’s continuous learning of how to do things better and smarter, we’ll just enjoy this moment on what we have achieved and then move on.
“We had players in the forwards unavailable on Saturday, five out of the seven will come back into the mix for Skerries, so they will be recovered and ready to go.”
Josh Cowan, Alex Darrah, Matthew Coulter, Jack Black, Bryan McCallan, Aaron Playfair and Ryan McIlwaine got Ballyclare’s tries. Matthew McDowell kicked five conversions and two penalties.
Omagh will play the loser of Thomond and Bective to keep their senior status.
Enniscorthy edged Midleton to the title with a 29-26 result at Belfast Harlequins.
City of Armagh will host UCC at the Palace Ground in a bid to stay in the top flight.
Chris Parker’s side finished ninth after a home defeat by Ballynahinch and were leap-frogged by UCD after they won at Young Munster.
Queen’s lost 66-12 at Shannon.
AIL Division 2A champions Instonians ended the campaign in style, scoring 14 tries in a 92-21 demolition of Buccaneers.
Ballymena remained in the division after Navan conceded a late score. Banbridge lost 57-22 at Barnhall.
Dungannon and Clogher Valley will meet in the AIL Division 2B promotion semi-final at Stevenson. Rainey and Malone finished the season with wins.