City of Derry into semi-finals of Junior Cup

City of Derry 41  |   Ballymoney 12

City of Derry's hopes of silverware this season are still alive after they saw off the challenge of Ballymoney at Judges Road at the weekend.

In a lively affair between City Of Derry Rugby Club and Derry Ballymoney Rugby Club, Derry thrashed their opponents 41 (5) to 12 (1) . Right before the match began, both sides were optimistic going into the fixture.

City of Derry Rugby Club Manager Richard Mcarter said their win over Ballymoney at the start of the season was irrelevant now. "This is a massive game, Derry, need to win after a few poor results. We will try and be as accurate as possible and prepare to scrap for it this game," said Richard.

The enthusiasm was shared by City Of Derry Rugby Club Chairman Brian Doherty who admitted that their previous league match with Ballyclare was disappointing. "We beat Ballymoney earlier in the season and they have been doing well. This will be a competitive game and hopefully, we will win it."

Meanwhile, their opponents understood the challenge which awaited them against a very good opponent.

Ballymoney Rugby Club Manager Andy Graham said: "We know it’s going to be very tough for us, we are travelling with confidence. “Ballymoney have had a good season, we brought in a few new faces and are looking forward to playing Derry. Our plan for this game is to win and not react much to our opposition." said Andy.

Ballymoney Rugby Club Vice President Des Nevin said: "The first time we played Derry was our first game in the season. It took us back as a bit of a surprise because we only recently got promoted. I still think we're underdogs coming into this."

Early score

Within the first four minutes of the game, Ballymoney scored a try but weren't able to get the conversion afterwards making the score 0-5.

City of Derry's manager Richard McCarter, half-time team chat. (Photos - Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)

It was a scrappy affair for the next ten minutes with neither side making much progress on the pitch until Ballymoney fouled Derry in the middle of the park. Derry were awarded a penalty and Alex McDonnell quickly converted it making it 3-5.

After 15 minutes of neither team taking control, Ballymoney broke the Derry defence again in the 31st minute and scored, taking the score to 3-12. Derry were then able to dig deep in the second minute of added time to score a try through Killene Thorton and conversion through McDonnell to bring the score to 10-12 heading into half time.

Confidence started to return to the Derry team just before the first half after struggling to get into the game for long periods. Ballymoney looked good for chunks of the first half but often lacked concentration when defending.

The second half started with Derry scoring two tries in the space of three minutes. The first was a try through Simon Logue in the 52nd minute after beating Ballymoney’s defence narrowly, with another McDonnell conversion making the score 17-12.

Derry replied instantly with an amazing try and conversion soon afterwards with Logue and McDonnell again scoring, taking the score to 24-12 in the 54th minute.

City of Derry's Adam Marley.

Ballymoney never gave up and they came close to scoring a try in the 61st minute but were unable to breach Derry’s defence. Derry scored a try through Thorton in the 65th minute bringing the score to 31-12. Derry received a penalty in the 77th minute which McDonnell scored made the score 34-12.

Derry then scored another try through Davy Graham with mcDonnell maintaining his 100% record of conversions in the 78th minute bringing the score to 41-12.

Ballymoney completely collapsed in the second half as Derry took complete control, Ballymoney’s wings were often exposed by Derry’s pace.

After the game, Richard McCarter said the team were delighted. “I said before the game today, our season rested on this match. To win it so empathically was pleasing, we knew if we tightened up our mistakes, we could do a lot of damage. We needed the win today after our poor run coming into it."

Ballymoney's Graham said his team was disappointed. "We started well, then we took our foot off the pedal and allowed Derry to attack us for long periods. We have ourselves to blame, Derry played well today."

Derry will now play Grosvenor away in their next match in the league.

City of Derry: F. Canning, C. Cregan, A. Marley, G. Doherty, C. McColgan, A. Deery, J. McDevitt, T. Dillon, J. Millar Pal, A. McDonnell, S. Logue, D. Lapsley, D. Graham, C. Cummings, K. Thornton.

Replacements: S. Duffy, T. Cameron, J. Beattie.