Ballymena got their league campaign off to a flying start with the most comprehensive of victories at Eaton Park. Fifth last season and tipped by many to improve upon that in the months ahead, they were always in a different class to newly promoted Dolphin. The dominant force up front from start to finish, it was a measure of the pack's domination that the home side registered three push-over tries and a penalty try.
Ulster scrum-half Andy Matchett, back on familiar ground after a season at Portadown, took the scoring honours with three tries and it was a good day, too, for two players making their league debut with Ballymena. Full-back Jan Cunningham celebrated his call-up to the Irish squad for next Sunday's international against Canada by scoring the opening try and Ulster number eight Keith Gallick, a recent signing from Derry, also proved his worth with a second-half try. Despite winning by 29 points, Ballymena were the first to admit there is still scope for considerable improvement. Primarily they will be concerned with their inability to have scored more points against a Dolphin side that will struggle to retain top status. Dolphin for their part deserve tremendous credit in that they refused to buckle against insurmountable odds on a day they were short three key players, outhalf John O'Mahony, number eight Stephen Jackson and winger Dennis O'Dowd. In addition they lost winger Barry O'Neill with ankle ligament damage 10 minutes before half-time. Full-back Michael McCoitir also came very close to a try three minutes before the break and a score then would have cut the deficit to a mere three points.
Instead the home side led 19-9 at the break by which stage the game was effectively over. The fact that Ballymena added a further 26 points on the restart was simply further proof of the yawning gap between the sides. Victory was a welcome relief for Ballymena's coach Nelie Smith. "It was tremendously important to win this game as we've never managed to win our opening league game in the past," he said.
Dolphin hooker Terry Kingston was typically honest in offering no excuses. He said: "Obviously we would like to have done better, but in the end our scrum didn't hold up and that's where the game was won and lost."
Scoring sequence: 5 mins: Cunningham try, 5-0; 12: Longwell try, McAleese conversion, 120; 16: Conor Mahony penalty, 12-3; 20: Mahony penalty, 12-6; 25: Matchett try, McAleese conversion, 19-6; 37: Mahony penalty, 19-9; 52: penalty try, McAleese conversion, 26-9; 60: Gallick try, McAleese conversion, 33-9, 61: Cian Mahony try, Conor Mahony conversion, 33-16; 65: Matchett try, 38-16; 73: Matchett try, McAleese conversion, 45-16.
Ballymena: J Cunningham; J Topping, M Rainey, M Boyd, A Park: D McAleese, A Matchett; N McKernan, S Ritchie, R Irwin, R West, G Longwell, A Graham, K Gallick, A Dougan.
Dolphin: M McCoitir; D O'Donovan, Cian Mahony, B Sheehan, B O'Neill; Conor Mahony, K Murphy; P Scott, T Kingston, E Knowles, J Forde, H Farrelly, T O'Connell, K Roche, D Pomeroy. Replacement: R Dineen for B O'Neill.
Referee: S Buggy (Leinster).
