On Saturday morning Friends School, Lisburn was the neutral venue for the Medallion Shield semi final between Ballymena Academy and The Royal School Armagh. Both teams served up a thriller!
Ballymena seemed slightly in awe of the occasion and allowed Armagh, playing against the breeze, to plunder 2 tries, through a Thomas Dougan brace, both converted by Evan Hughes, to take a 14-0 lead after 14 minutes.
Ballymena settled and began to gain territory and possession. A break from halfway and series of recycled rucks led to a Callum Peden try under the posts converted by Reuben Allen to reduce the deficit to 14-7.
In the last minute of the 1st half Ben Millar drove over from a lineout maul to leave Armagh with a slender 14-12 lead at the break.
The 2nd half was 9 minutes old, when Zakir Majeed scored at the base of a ruck to take Armagh out to 19-12.
Ballymena rallied and when Charlie Hargy’s 45th minute try was converted by Allen, the game was tied at 19-19.
Three minutes later the game was settled when Connor McKenna raced in for an unconverted try for Ballymena to take the lead for the first time in the game at 24-19.
Armagh laid siege to the Ballymena line, but to no avail.
Ballymena held out and will face Campbell College on 8th March Queen’s Arena, The Dub.
Gallery Below
