McCambley joy for Ards

Ards 4ths 23 : 6 Ballymoney 4ths

Robin Johnston reports

Ards Captain David Savage proudly led his team mates out onto the turf at Ravenhill on Saturday to contest the McCambley Cup final against Ballymena.

The build up to the match was not without drama as with only 24 hours to go before kick off, Ards still has three crucial members of the starting line up stranded in foreign fields due to the air travel disruption. Julian Patton proceeded to make an epic return journey from Prague, Cyril Stocker battled his way home from Italy and it was rumored that Gordy McBride had swum the Irish Channel to make it back in time. Such is the never-say-die attitude of the Ardsman and that team spirit was needed to overcome the strong opposition provided by Ballymoney.

Ards dominated possession, and when a Ballymoney player infringed at a ruck in the 5th minute, up stepped Joe Montgomery to calmly bisect the uprights with a penalty to give Ards a 3-0 lead.

A well timed pass found Jack Flynn with enough space on the left wing to dive over the line for a well executed try. Montgomery calmly added the conversion to give Ards a deserved 10-0 lead. Ballymoney then enjoyed some territory in the Ards half, but strong tackling and affective work at the break down kept the opposition at bay who never threatened to score in the first half.

In the 16th minute a superb line out take by Graham Hill gave the backs excellent front foot ball to work with. Once again, Bell and Stewart combined well to release Jack Flynn on the left wing. On this occasion, he had much more work to do with three Ballymoney defenders trying to get him into touch. A 15-0 lead was a fair reflection on how the game was progressing at that stage.

There was some speculation as to whether a 15-0 lead would be enough as Ards now faced into a stiff breeze for the second half and just three minutes later Ballymoney got on the score board with a penalty. When Ards were penalized just seven minutes later the same Ballymoney player added a further penalty to reduce the Ards lead to just 9 points.

In the 58th minute the reliable boot of Joe Montgomery extended the Ards lead to 18-6 with an excellent penalty. Cyril Stocker was a calming influence at fullback throughout the game and was a constant counter attacking threat. He linked well with Gordy McBride on several occasions to make significant inroads into the Ballymoney half with McBride almost scoring an individual try only to be denied by an awkward bounce. Ards then kicked a penalty to the corner and had no difficulty in securing possession from the line out. A rolling maul was set up with Ballymoney defended aggressively. The Ards pack retained possession and showed considerable composure and it was the outstanding Graham Hill who finally barged over in the 64th minute for an superb try.

Wave after wave of attacks were repelled as Ballymoney searched for an opening. Ards finished off the remaining minutes of the game in control to regain the McCambley Cup.