Malone kick off AIL season with 'a bit of a bang' as fightback ends in derby delight

Bann had led 22-7 after 45 minutes at Gibson Park but Malone kept chipping away and Cosgrove scored 10 points in the last two minutes for the home side’s 29-27 triumph.

“That’s the way you want to start the season...with a bit of a bang and get and get the crowd behind us as well,” said Malone forwards coach Richard Boyd. “I thought we showed unbelievable character we sort of struggled to get a foothold in the game during the first half, we played a lot of rugby but we just weren’t clinical enough.

“Banbridge fed off our mistakes and from those mistakes they were really clinical, they put us under pressure and put points on the board.

“We grew into the game and in the second half our pack got us into it, we played a bit smarter after half-time and we started to change the game plan to play a wee bit tighter and play through them and just not go wide...we got great change out of that.

“I’m just proud of how we stuck at it...good character shown, there is a lot to work on this week but to get five points at home you would take it any day of the week.

“For the fans, that’s how you want to finish it...for the coaches it was a bit of a nightmare in terms of leaving it so late.

"But to get the crowd going and to get our season going we dug in, we snatched a victory at the end but our character probably deserved it.”

Despite being 15 points down Boyd still had faith Malone could stage a fightback.

“We still looked dangerous with ball in hand, the wind was in our favour in the second half and we were able to profit from that,” he said. “The message was stick to our processes because when you concede points it’s very easy to start playing outside what you have been working on in training over the past eight to 10 weeks.

“And Chris’ kicking game really got us forward, our lineout started to tick second half and we got some purchase there, we easily could have drifted off.

“If you going to hit the front that is the time to do it, I think in the past two seasons those are the type of games that have got away from us and we have gone into the changing room dejected at what could have been...it was just nice to be on the right side of it and that gives us momentum and a bit of a bounce.”

Boyd believes the new format for Division 2B will be a success.

“When you look at the North-South divide, I think the North is the tougher league in my opinion,” he said. “We have a lot of Ulster derbies, which is great for the club, the buzz about the place...it was great to see lots of Banbridge people we knew, that rivalry steps up another gear.

“Good that we have those teams fighting it out with crowds behind them.

Enniskillen edged Rainey out 33-29, plus home wins arrived for Ballyclare and Clogher Valley.

Ballynahinch suffered home defeat in 1A against UCD.

In 1B, City of Armagh fought out a draw with Trinity while Instonians lost at Garryowen.

All three Ulster clubs in 2A – Ballymena, Dungannon and Queen’s – enjoyed opening-day victories.