Topping tour-de-force seals it

Ballymena28

Ignore the 10-point margin in Saturday's AIL Division 1 decider, because it does no justice at all to what was in fact a thrilling, nail-biting, down-to-the-wire epic between two evenly-matched sides.

Pity indeed that there had to be a loser at all, but fitting that it was decided by a world-class strike from a top-class finisher, because it was James Topping's scintillating 58th-minute touchdown, and not the final 10-point margin, that was the ultimate real difference between fancied Ballymena and Clontarf, the snarling underdogs.

Turning around at half-time fortunate to be trailing just 10-6 against a ferociously hard-hitting fired-up Clontarf side, the undoubted class that permeates Ballymena's contracted squad soon began to show.

Ireland A full-back Paddy Wallace had spent much of that first half on the flat of his back after yet another bone-crunching hit from any number of Clontarf kamikaze tacklers, trying to suck some air into badly-winded lungs.

Now he was sucking pure high-octane unleaded, and a double-whammy of early second-half tries from Ballymena's Kiwi out-half Adam Larkin had much to do with the pace and panache of the bleached-blond Paddy. Wallace converted both tries, putting the Blacks double-scores ahead, 20-10, after 53 minutes.

Clontarf's own flyer, outside-centre Darragh O'Shea, gave the Dubliners hope with another well-struck penalty, then came Topping's tour-de-force.

"Just an ordinary reverse move," he called it; "we do it with Ulster as well. Sometimes it works, you get a hole, straight through the centre, sometimes it doesn't.

"Today, I got just enough of a hole with enough speed to get me over in the corner, no more."

Oh, but it was so much more. The winger was still in midfield, the whole of the Clontarf defence still ranged in front, when he took that little reverse, but such was his pace, his angle, his timing, that none of the three attempted tackles had any real chance of stopping the fifteen-stone flyer, while last-man Dave Hewitt was beaten outside, held twice in his tracks by just the faintest of dummy feints inside.

The huge, loyal, vocal local support apart, the rest of the 10,000-plus crowd rose in spontaneous applause.

Wallace missed the difficult convert-attempt, but at 25-13, with a solid defence of their own, Ballymena were surely now home and dry.

However, this was where the heart of Clontarf really began to beat.

The team of mostly part-timers against the team of mostly full pros, in wave after wave they came crashing back on the Ballymena lines and eventually, broke through.

Hooker Andrew Jackman, their top try-scorer all season, was prominent in the move, as was their outstanding ball-carrying No 8 David Moore, but it was winger Ollie Winchester with the final say, dotting down in the corner.

Just a converted try between then now, and how close Clontarf came to getting it and how often. Several times the Ballymena line was within inches of being breached Jackman coming closest.

Finally it happened, a touchdown under the posts (either Moore or flanker Simon O'Donnell), and referee Rolland's arm went up.

Celebration for Clontarf, then consternation. Alan's arm was pointing in the opposite direction, no try, penalty against Clontarf, double-movement in the touchdown.

The right call, but rough justice on a superb effort by the side that had dominated the regular season. , Second-row Gary Longwell, one of the hardest men in what is a very hard game, was close to tears.

"I've been playing senior for Ballymena now for ten years, this is a great moment for me, a long, long time coming. This is a fantastic achievement for us.

"To think that last year, we struggled to avoid relegation, then to come back a year later to be club champions of Ireland, it's certainly one of the highlights of my career, up there with the European Cup in 1999.

"We haven't played together all that much as a team this year, but the spirit we showed today has shone right the way through. What a game, but my heart goes out to Clontarf. All credit to them, I thought they were outstanding, they played so well today. I know how disappointed they must feel now."

Disappointment wouldn't even begin to describe what Clontarf were feeling. Pole position all season, pipped at the post by a side that had recently been bolstered by the return of all those top-class professionals, devastation, desolation was writ large on every face.

That's the game.

BALLYMENA: P. Wallace (2P 2C); J. Topping (1T), M. Waterhouse, H. Pryce-Jones (A. Maxwell 40), S. Young; A. Larkin (2T), P. Spence; S. McConnell (N. McKernan 40), P. Shields, B. Young; M. Blair (A. Graham 67), G. Longwell; M. McCullough, N. McMillan, R. Nelson (c).

CLONTARF: D. Hewitt; N. O'Brien (D. Higgins 59), D. O'Shea (1T 2P 1C), J. Downey, O. Winchester (1T); A. Dunne (1T), M. Walls; W. O'Kelly (inj. 74 G. Flynn), B. Jackman, A. Clarke; B. Gissing, A. Wood; D. Quinn, S. O'Donnell, D. Moore.

Referee: A. Rolland (LAR).