SCHOOLS' CUP FINAL: Ballymena boys flying the flag for 'country schools'

Ballymena coach John Nicholl has been delighted with the progress made since January when they trailed BRA going into the closing stages at Roughfort before a late try and conversion proved enough for a two-point win.

“I think we have come a long way, I thought BRA were outstanding...credit to DJ Creighton, he had them really prepared,” said Nicholl. “It was genuinely inches from us going out in the last 16, which would have been just devastating for the boys and the school.

"But we learned a lot from that...we went back and looked at a lot of video.

“From that (then) going into the Regent House game that we had to maybe develop our play a wee bit more and try to get our backs into the game because if our maul or set piece fails we have got to look at plan B.

“So that taught us a lot and we were fortune to get through that tie. The boys have been absolutely buzzing.”

It’s been 14 years since Ballymena last lifted the cup but the coach insists there is no pressure.

“Ballymena were in the Schools’ Cup 100 years ago,” said Nicholl. “There have a been a few guys who played in the 2010 team who have been in contact.

"John Andrew from the Ulster squad has been wishing us all the best and we’ve invited him down.

“We are just trying to keep the boys nice and settled and relaxed and we’ll be ready to go.

“We’ve heard it will be hard to beat Inst but we are quietly confident because of how the boys have done in the previous years against RBAI.

“In a final anyone can have their day, we’ll be ready, we’ll have done all our analysis, trained well and will give it our best shot.

“We have drawn on all the experiences throughout the season and when we got to that cup match and got through against BRA that instilled a real belief in us that our defence was good enough to go a wee bit further.

“When you get one of the country schools through you get that wee bit of extra excitement especially.

“This is my second season but there have been coaches before me who have prepped these guys and installed that belief that this could be one of the groups that could go on and potentially get to the final of a Schools’ Cup or go one better and win it.

“There is a culture and ethos of unity and that family commitment to it and they are ready to win.

"They have had so much success in the juniors of winning, that is all experience and it all counts and when it gets to this stage.

“Inst are marginally favourites to win and they are probably expected to win, whereas for us nobody really expected us to get here.

“There was a lot of talk about underdogs from other schools but we were never really mentioned, which suits our mentality.

“When it comes to the final these boys will be ready to go, they are a humble group and they will be well-prepared.”