Ballymena's cup runneth over

Ballymena's cup runneth over

First Trust Ulster Senior Cup final:
Ballymena 44-3 Dungannon

Ballymena celebrating their cup success over Dungannon

Ballymena cruised to their 10th Ulster Senior Cup success with a six-try battering of Dungannon at Ravenhill.

Ballymena had the defending champions on the rack from the early stages and had the game in the bag as early half-time when they romped to a 23-3 lead.

Tries by Neil McMillan, Steph Rogers, Darryl O'Kane and the boot of Adam Larkin virtually ended the game as a contest.

Two tries after the break by Ulster lock Mark Blair and another by Shane Stewart saw Ballymena end their six-year drought in the domestic blue riband trophy.

Although Dungannon gave as good as they got up front they were unable to breach a well-organised Ballymena defence.

The Braidmen were just too alert, and the pace in which they countered proved fatal for the champions.

Dungannon played with more fire in the second period, but despite having most of the possession they were unable to add to Mark Bradley's solitary ninth-minute penalty.

Ballymena were soon in top game when in the seventh minute Scott Young showed his pace from deep to send flanker McMillan over in the corner.

MATCH DETAILS

Ballymena 44 (23)
Tries: Blair 2, McMillan, Rogers, O'Kane, Stewart
Pens: Larkin
Cons: Larkin 4

Dungannon: 3 (3)
Pen: Bradley

Following a penalty by Larkin, hooker and man-of-the-match Rogers was on hand to drive over in the 26th minute.

Seven minutes from the break lock forward O'Kane was next to charge over, with Larkin also knocking over a simple penalty. The second half was only five minutes old when Larkin sent Blair over, and the big Ulster lock romped over for his second try after lively support work by the Ballymena pack.

Dungannon, with Seamus Mallon and Leinster lock Aidan Kearney prominent, tried everything to break Ballymena's defence.

But once again they were caught with a sucker punch when Bradley's long pass was intercepted by Stewart who trundled in under posts.

Larkin converted all three second-half tries to take his total for the evening to 14 points.

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Ballymena: M Waterhouse; R Aiona; S Young, S Stewart, H Swift; A Larkin, capt, P Spence; N McKernan, S Rogers, B Young, D O'Kane, M Blair, J Taggart, N McMillan, M McCullough.
Replacements: W McAllister for Young (66), S McConnell for McKernan (59), A Graham for McMillan (66), D Topping for Swift (59), A Monson for Spence (65).

Dungannon: M Armstrong; P Sanford; S Mallon, A Clarke, J Cunningham,; M Bradley, K Campbell; C O'Neill, C Farrell, G Leslie, T Barker, A Kearney, S Roberts, A Hughes, A Boyd.
Replacements: K Walker for Roberts (51), M Farquhar for Leslie (46).