BALLYMENA are something of a litmus test for title aspirants, especially at Eaton Park. What they lack in star individuals they make up for in spirit and a high fitness level borne out of a rigorous three nights per week training regime. Nothing less than a full 80 minute effort is required against them. St Mary's dictated the tune for much of the game, yet they still came up short here.

The only losers in the top six, St Mary's thus dropped three places to sixth and now need two favours apiece against both Lansdowne and Shannon to begin with, while winning their remaining six. In short, they need snookers.

Having probably kissed another league challenge goodbye St Mary's will have kicked themselves all the way back to Dublin. They took the game to Ballymena from the off.

For half an hour there was really only one team in it. The pack laid on plenty of good ball and their talented young backs attacked Ballymena in midfield or out wide. Craig Fitzpatrick moved his line well, their promising centre pairing of Gareth Gannon and Ray McIlreavy were on their game and Kevin Nowlan was hitting the line with unerring timing.

The full back arrived on McIlreavy's shoulder to score their first try, and made the initial incision to put the centre over for the second. At 17-3 only a commanding away win seemed legible.

Ballymena were pedestrian by comparison, forever attacking close in where the solid St Mary's fringe defence conceded little.

Passages of uninspired running into a brick wall ended with kicks to touch into the wind, routine applause and an even more routine Steve Jameson takes from Barry Browne's ensuing throw.

But you underestimate Ballymena at your peril. They had conceded three early tries to Terenure, trailed 32-9 to Shannon and 20-3 to Cork Constitution before launching comebacks, clawing to within a score of both Terenure and Shannon. St Mary's hadn't read the script and paid for it.

Mark Beattie measured one of the aforementioned kicks to perfection, forcing Nowlan to concede the throw in and Paul McBride rolled over from a rolling maul. St Mary's went to sleep following the restart, permitting Derek McAleese to carve through and from the resultant five metre scrum the veteran out half put Beattie over on his inside.

Suddenly, St Mary's well earned lead had vanished, and they had to do it all again into a second half wind. In fairness, they made a fine fist of it and your heart went out to them at the end. They kept running it and coming at Ballymena, coming within a tackle or a pass of a try on countless occasions, but the home side's tackling was superb.

Despite a big game from the St Mary's open side Mark Cuddihy, Ballymena also limited the flow of second phase ball when moves broke down. Ciaran Fitzgerald singled out the superior mobility of the Ballymena tight five, which was epitomised by their supercharged hooker Stephen Ritchie, an additional back row forward in stealing two key loose balls.

Any St Mary's turnover or fumble in the tackle was punished, McAleese repelling them with booming touchkicks off the ensuing scrums. One such box kick resulted in Jameson riskily tapping down Browne's throw beyond Owen McCormack for Rithchie to poach a crucial try.

Just two more sorties were enough for Ballymena, who in truth created little apart from rolling mauls and close in driving, McAleese surprisingly missed an insurance drop goal before Ray McIlmoyle did so. Fitzpatrick and Nowlan did put David Lyons over in injury time, and St Mary's gamely sacrificed the conversion attempt, but the game was up.

"We can only blame ourselves for losing it," said a typically candid Ciaran Fitzgerald. "I think we lost it in the first half when we had the lead. We took our eye off the ball and started to relax. It's a costly lesson. You can't afford any lapse in concentration at this level."

Ballymena were always capable of scalping a big name and should certainly be capable of acquiring another couple of wins to ensure their survival without undue bother. It came at a huge personal cost for the concussed James Topping, though in the event his replacement McIlmoyle became something of a match winner.

Similarly, Fitzgerald's counterpart Davey Smyth identified his pack's increasing ability to "drive them (Mary's) back so that the ball they were getting wasn't as good as it had been. We've been practicising very hard on our forward play and technique and I think it showed."

As for the propensity to concede a big early lead, Smyth was at a total loss. "If I knew the secret of that I'd rectify it. I honestly don't know. We cannot settle down and play the rugby we're capable of until we're a few points down. But teams coming here can expect a match. There'll be no easy points got off us."

Lansdowne, hosts to Ballymena a fortnight hence, have been warned.