Over the years, Kilraughts Road has proved to be something of a bogey ground for Bangor, but having produced some encouraging results in recent weeks, there was perhaps more optimism that Bangor could produce an upset on this occasion. As for the home side, they were determined to put their surprise loss to Ards last weekend behind them and continue their push for a top four spot in Championship 1.

This season Bangor have shown that they are quick out of the blocks, and this game was no different. Although Ballymoney tried to seize an early initiative with a quick lineout, Bangor stole this and immediately turned the tables as Ryan Young and Bryn Watson produced a to-and-fro passing sequence which split the Ballymoney defence, allowing Young to finish off the flowing move with a well-taken try in the right-hand corner. Although the conversion was missed, Bangor had taken just 2 minutes to move into a 0-5 lead.

Shortly afterwards, Bangor kicked a penalty to touch, close to Ballymoney’s 5 metre line. Connor McKee safely gathered the lineout, and the resulting maul trundled forward. Although the drive was stopped, Marty Withers spotted a gap in the defence and burst through to score Bangor’s second unconverted try.

Finding themselves 10 points down in the first 10 minutes forced Ballymoney to up their game and, following Bangor’s untidy handling of the restart, started to apply pressure inside Bangor’s twenty-two. In their efforts to repel the attack, Bangor were unfortunate to lose McKee to a yellow card following a high tackle. However, Bangor weathered both the manpower deficit and Ballymoney’s sustained pressure in a display of determined and well-organised defence. Eventually Bangor were able to clear the ball deep into Ballymoney’s half. An ambitious attempt by the Ballymoney winger to chip over the advancing Bangor back-line was caught by Zane Hanna who quickly started a counter-attack, with the ball moving from one wing to the other, where Bryn Watson was on hand to finish the move with a try in the corner. On this occasion, Gareth Millar was on target with the conversion, which stretched Bangor’s lead to 0-17.

As if to confirm Bangor’s complete domination of the first half – solid defence, fast attacks, and clinical finishing - Young was on hand in the closing minutes to finish a fluid move between his forwards and backs, and add his second try which, although unconverted, brought the half time score to 0-22, and also earned Bangor a try-scoring bonus point.

As is so often said, rugby is a game of two halves, and this was never more evident as the sides turned around at half time. Another poorly handled restart by Bangor gave Ballymoney an immediate attacking opportunity close to the Bangor goal line. Whereas earlier Bangor would have done everything possible to force a Ballymoney error, this time the home side were able to force their way through for the try and conversion.

The difference in Bangor’s defence was evident a few minutes later when the ball popped loose from a ruck, allowing Ballymoney to pick it up and run through unhindered for their second converted try, narrowing the scores to 14-22.

From being down and out after the first half, Ballymoney now were right back in contention. However, as they pushed forward again, a loose pass was intercepted by Young on his own twenty-two. It was a long run for Young, but he left the Ballymoney players in his wake as he touched down under the posts. Millar added the conversion to give his side a 14-29 lead.

This didn’t deter Ballymoney, who continued to keep up the pressure and, when Josh Nelson was shown a yellow card for pulling down a ruck, they used the penalty to set up a lineout and drive which produced a try which, with the added conversion, made the score 21-29.

The penalty count was mounting against Bangor who were becoming ragged in defence, and when they conceded another on the 70-minute mark, Ballymoney simply repeated their lineout and drive which once again earned them their bonus point try and brought them to within a point of Bangor at 28-29.

With nerves jangling on both sides, Bangor dug deep and created a great break by Rob Gamble which gave his side an attacking platform close to the Ballymoney twenty-two. Patience and better handling saw the ball swung right to Watson who had just enough room along the touchline to squeeze over in the corner and give Bangor a bit of extra breathing room.

Bangor now had that tricky 6-point lead, but with only 7 minutes left to play it could have been enough if they could hold their defensive shape. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, as Ballymoney produced the kind of flowing backline move that Bangor had shown in the first half and ran through to score under the posts. The simple conversion was added which gave the home side the lead for the first time in the game at 35-34.

Things went from bad to worse for Bangor when their restart didn’t go the mandatory 10 metres, which gave possession back to Ballymoney. This was followed by an unnecessary moment of dissent, which earned Millar a yellow card. The resulting penalty for Ballymoney was the last kick of the game, and the home side could celebrate a remarkable comeback and hard-earned win. For Bangor’s part, they had to be content with both try-scoring and losing bonus points but, in reality, they would be gutted at having lost a game that they looked to be in total control of earlier.
Despite this loss, Bangor have moved that little bit closer to their nearest rivals in the league table and, if they keep producing tries while taking better control of their defence, there is some optimism that more positive results will come in the weeks ahead. This will be strongly tested next weekend when they host Portadown in the semi-final of the Junior Cup.