Ballymena trample over soft Terenure

Terenure couldn't buy a kick, could hardly win a line-out, and were trampled on in the scrums by a Ballymena side whose ball retention and basic tactical approach were also inestimably better. Apart from that, you might say, it was a close game.

The game was pretty much cast in stone as well as mud from as early as the 35th second, when James Topping completed a near pitch-length counter-attack initiated by Stanley McDowell and Andy Dougan after Terenure had turned over attacking ball.

In truth, the outcome was written in the clouds. When the going gets heavy, Ballymena are now probably the only team outside of Shannon - and certainly Limerick - who have the toughness to get going. It was never Terenure's forte and it still isn't.

Opting to play into the gale force wind and the slanting rain, Ballymena knew what they were about and kept risks to a minimum.

Adhering to the basic game plan that has now taken them to 18 games unbeaten this season, they absorbed time at the base of the scrum (there should be a time limit on that) and the rucks, rarely moving the ball outside a three or four-yard radius from the pack.

All Terenure could do was make their tackles and either wait for the fumble (of which there were very few) or keep the ball off the ground at the breakdown to win the put-in. The ball retention of the Ballymena pack was outstanding, and behind them Andy Matchett was faultless in both his handling and directing of the fringe traffic.

Matchett's quiet, unfussy and highly effective display, admittedly behind a vastly superior pack, was put in its proper context by the forced and unforced mistakes of Derek Hegarty.

Admittedly, ball was squirting back to him in such a variety of ways that at times he wouldn't have needed the powers of Einstein and a psychic to anticipate them.

All of that wouldn't have been so bad in itself for Terenure had they been able to retain their own throw, but one clean take from the first five set the tone. The ratio improved a bit thereafter - it could hardly get any worse - but often it was just slapped down around Hegarty's ankles.

The Terenure scrum, initially, was solid enough for Garran Sheahan to attack the blind side, from where the halves moved it open for Michael Smyth to hold the ball up in the tackle and Girvan Dempsey to score with a late, perfectly timed support run.

Even then, though, Hegarty hooked the close-in conversion after taking it from outside the 22, and, all told, eight early points were profligately wasted by Hegarty and Cullen. Again, one wondered why Peter Walsh, a superior striker of the ball, was not retained as place-kicker with perhaps the rider that he took none from under the sticks.

Equally curious was the decision to leave Paul Hennebry on the bench until the final quarter - and by then even he would have to have been a magician as well as brilliant. Quite simply, Cullen lacked presence, a point even the Ballymena dressing-room concurred with; all the more so given the conditions. Hennebry immediately brought confidence, options and stature to those around him when he belatedly entered the fray.

Perhaps this also explained why Hegarty took too much on, and with Smyth also having an offday, the Terenure back-line rarely clicked. Their under-used trump card, Ciaran Clarke, was played about three times in the whole match.

To compound all of this, Terenure's scrum began backpedalling upon the restart. Matchett, deadly from two inches, pounced for two pushover tries after big shoves and expert control from Keith Gallick to take his tally to seven tries from four league games, of which five have been pushovers.

The scrum also provided the platform for McAleese to probe a porous Terenure midfield on halfway and Jan Cunningham sauntered through to chip ahead delightfully for Topping's second try.

Even when Terenure's pride sparked a final-quarter rally, Ballymena coach Nelie Smith took considerable comfort his team's enduring defence. "Our players decided not to concede another try."

Cover for injuries, primarily in the tight five, might be a problem but the table confirms that this is Ulster's strongest tilt at the title in the AIL's eight years. A thrice weekly training regime has made Ballymena considerably fitter, the lift in confidence not being co-incidental. "When you've got the physical strength, you have more confidence yourselves," observed a highly satisfied Smith.

"Four wins out of four for an Ulster club is very important for us," added the South African. "To beat Terenure was worth four points to us. Very few other clubs are going to come here and win." That said, Ballymena did it comfortably.

A philosophical Gerry Murphy readily conceded that Terenure were outplayed in virtually every facet of play. "We didn't play as well as we can play. The conditions were very difficult. They adapted much better than we did and they won fairly easily."

Murphy maintained that the current inclement weather constitutes a problem for all teams as they brace themselves for more of the same in the depths of an Irish winter. "As usual the clubs are left sucking the hind tit because we're playing in the worst time of the year and we just have to go and do it."

Nevertheless, it looks like being less of a problem for Shannon and Ballymena, certainly compared to the Dublin challenge.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 1 min Topping try 05; 15 mins Dempsey try 5-5; 45 mins Matchett try, McAleese con 5-15; 49 mins McAleese drop goal 5-15; 50 mins Topping try 5-20; 66 mins Matchett try 5-25.

TERENURE COLLEGE: C Clarke; G Dempsey, K de Gascun, M Smyth, P Walsh; S Cullen, D Hegarty; D Hyland, J Blaney, P Bruce, R Sheriff, C Potts, J Kelly (capt), G Sheehan, B Kavanagh. Replacements: D Crossan for Blaney (61 mins), I Walsh for Kavanagh (61 mins), P Hennebry for Cullen (64 mins), M Ennis for Bruce (71 mins). BALLYMENA: J Cunningham; I Gray, M Rainey, S McDowell, J Topping; D McAleese, A Matchett; N McKernan, S Ritchie (capt), R Irwin, R West, G Longwell, A Graham, K Gallick, A Dougan. Replacement: D Topping for Gallick (72 mins).

Referee: B Stirling (Ulster).