Dungannon ran out comfortable winners in this pre-season friendly match at Stevenson Park on Tuesday night.
The game was played in four quarters with both sides giving their full squads plenty of game time.
Dungannon dominated the opening quarter with two tries from impressive scrum half Jason Bloomfield. He scored his first with an outrageous dummy in the middle of the park wrong footing the Ballymena defence to allow him to run clear to score under the posts. Michael Lawton converted.
His second score came from a charge down near the Ballymena line with Bloomfield winning the race to the ball. The try went unconverted leaving the score 12 – 0 at the end of the first quarter.
Ballymena turned things around in the second quarter with their out half showing some nice touches. A silky break by the 10 followed by an inside pass to their charging winger gave Ballymena their first score of the night. This was converted by 10.
Scrum half Gareth Fisher barged over for their second after a period of sustained pressure on the Dungannon line. Ballymena were unable to convert leaving the score at half time 12 – 12.
Dungannon pulled clear in the third quarter with try from Michael Lawton which he converted himself. This was quickly followed up with an unconverted try by Stuart Lester taking the third quarter score to 24 -12.
There was no comeback for Ballymena in the final quarter however as Dungannon continued to dominate possession with Michael Kirkwood scoring the final try of the game and Lawton capped a fine personal performance by adding the conversion.
Final score: Dungannon 31 Ballymena 12
