News

Match Report | Ballymena Academy 25-14 Sullivan Upper School

28th February 2024

Ballymena Academy will face defending champions, Belfast Royal Academical Institution in the final on Monday 18th March at Kingspan Stadium, following their impressive display against Sullivan Upper.

Ballymena were aggressive in both aspects of the game and their first half attacking performance, combined with excellent defensive work in the second half, made it a convincing win, despite Sullivan's best efforts.

Th match got off to a fast start, with Ben Neely showing early intent to drive at the opposition defence. Both sides were very impressive with their box kicking accuracy, with Ballymena's McIlroy and Sullivan's McKeown both impressive in the kicking game.

After a cagey first 10 minutes, Ballymena made the first breakthrough in the contest.

The excellent Charlie Hargy broke the Sullivan line to get the Ballymena men close to the tryline and recycled the ball to fly-half Robbie Coleman, who whipped the ball out to Sean McKay for an easy try to get Ballymena going. Coleman slotted the conversion for the extras.

Ballymena would keep Sullivan pinned in their 22 and added another three points through Thompson following a high tackle from Jake Thompson.

Much of Sullivan's best work came through their full-back, Ryan Drain, who dealt with tricky high balls throughout the match. Sullivan showed moments of attacking intent, with their loosehead prop, Nathan Noble, making some good carries.

Sullivan had their tails up and made an impressive score to get right back into the contest. From a lineout maul, Ryan Drain got the ball and made a fantastic line break before offloading to the mullet-haired winger, Timothy Bell, to dive over in the corner to get Sullivan on the board. Harry McKeown's conversion execution from a difficult angle was on the money and he reduced it to a three point game.

Ballyman responded immediately and had shown the power of their driving maul through the half, with their maul powering them to a second try before half time as hooker, Callum Mustoe, finished off an unstoppable drive from the lineout. Coleman added the extras.

At half-time the Ballymena team led by ten points at 17-7.

The weather at Kingspan Stadium got worse as the second half got going. With the conditions becoming increasingly difficult, there were a lot more loose balls which hurt Sullivan especially as they sought to hit back.

Sullivan failed to make their attacking intent pay off, after Ballymena stole a dangerous lineout and flanker, Harry Lamont, making a big jackal turnover to stunt their momentum.

Moments like that allowed Ballymena to pin the Sullivan team back towards their half, and the industry of the Ballymena back row was ensuring they were winning the breakdown battles.

Ballymena's aggressive pressure paid off, with centre, Daniel Vercoe-Rogers, pouncing on a loose ball in the Sullivan 22 and chasing his grubber kick through to score the first try of the half. Coleman's conversion was wide from a tricky angle.

The leaders didn't take their foot off the gas, forcing another penalty which they took to extend their lead by another three.

With Ballymena looking to close the game out, Sullivan never gave up and continued to push forward in injury time.

Their determination paid off with lineout at the Ballymena 5m line, which was well executed and finished by Harry Thallon.

Harry McKeown added the extra two to give the Sullivan support something to cheer about as the full-time whistle went.

Ballymena's physical edge, aggression and accuracy got the job done on the day and they now have a chance to write their names in the Danske Schools' Cup history books and add a first School's Cup win since 2010.