An entertaining Jack Kyle Cup game at Eaton Park with Ballymena the more cultured unit beating a competitive Dungannon side to retain the Cup.
To say that Dungannon had an inauspicious start would be an understatement. Dungannon kicked off, Ballymena almost scored but fortunately the kick through went dead. From the resultant scrum Ballymena shredded the Dungannon defence but a great bit of scrambled defence kept the Dungannon line intact. However, on ten minutes a quickly taken Ballymena penalty resulted in captain and centre Sam Miller bursting through to score a good try that Aidan Ritson converted.
7 – 0
Dungannon settled down and good work from Jono Shrestha set the visitors in motion. A penalty was awarded five metres out from the Ballymena line. Unfortunately, a quick one was taken but fortunately the wasted situation was rescued by a second five metre penalty. This time a tap was taken but despite a mighty effort possession was lost and Ballymena cleared their line.
A second Ballymena try for Sam Miller was discounted by a foot in touch. But on twenty-six minutes Michael Reid ran in for a try converted by Ritson.
14 – 0
A great pick up on the ten metre line by Dungannon number 8 Diarmuid Kelly was fruitful. He slipped the ball intelligently to Gildernew, Jamie ran a great line, beat two men and scored a memorable try on the left after thirty minutes.
14 – 5
Five minutes later Ballymena made use of the full width of the pitch for Sam Miller to touched down for his brace well out on the left.
19 – 5
Ballymena almost scored after the restart but last ditch defence kept them at bay. However, they made good use of the ball again as sub Jack Gaston scored after thirty-eight minutes.
24 – 5
The second half was five minutes old when centre Jordan Miller streaked over for a try again converted by Ritson
31 – 5
The game ebbed and flowed with neither side gaining the upper hand. Dungannon were starting to play more as a team and the generally disjointed play suited them better. Dungannon then took control for a period and almost forced a try. Then after seventy-two minutes they were awarded a penalty on the Ballymena twenty-two. An adventurous Luke Glackin, took a quick tap and streaked past several defenders to score a great opportunist try.
This proved to be the final score of the game.
31 - 10
Despite the score this was a competitive game, Team captains were enthusiastic post match. Ballymena’s two try Sam Miller was pleased with the win and naturally enjoyed the game but thought his boys should have had more points on the board. Dungannon’s Arek Mikolajczyk was disappointed with the score but pleased that his boys never stopped trying and had a strong second half.
A competitive game played in a good spirit.

Team: Ben Steenson. Jack Kennedy, Charlie Conroy, Aaron Perry, Ben Holmes. Jack Steenson, Luke Glackin. Jacob Clarke, Joel Stewart, Joshua Clarke. Arek Mikolajczyk, Maksims Kotovs. Mark Douglas, Jonathan Shrestha, Diarmuid Kelly. Matthew Scott, Jamie Gildernew, Jaike Callaghan, Ben Doran. Ben Cunningham.

Referee: Oisin Quinn20