It was a match decided by human frailty, the kind that prematurely ages a coach. Blackrock College's Kevin West conceded that his overwhelming emotion afterwards was one of frustration. He had watched his side ease into a 10-0 lead, suffer two players dispatched to the sin bin, reclaim the lead and maintain it approaching the closing minutes and then metaphorically speaking, empty both barrels into a foot, through a moment of utter folly.
Tantalised by victory, it made the defeat at Stradbrook much harder to endure. Centre Michael Jackson - he otherwise had a strong match - transgressed four times in a 14-minute spell, the sum of his indiscretions rather than a single crime, wearing thin the patience of referee Alan Lewis: the yellow card was entirely justified for the serial offender.
Blackrock led 10-0 at this juncture, a try from prop Gary Halpin, burrowing under the depleted blindside cover from a ruck three yards from the Ballymena line, converted by Alan McGowan who subsequently tagged on a penalty. Jackson's departure was little short of catastrophic; his 10 minutes in the sin bin must have seemed like an eternity after what transpired.
Ballymena are easy on the eye, their penchant to open up behind the scrum, trying to stretch and prise open defences with the ball in hand mark them as one of the most entertaining and enterprising teams in Division One.
Jackson's absence, compounded by full back Conor Kilroy's time out with a blood injury - David Johnson came on to the left wing with Paul Noble moving to full back - allowed Ballymena's centre partnership of Rhys Botha and Shane Stewart the latitude they craved.
The pair combined to send Stewart racing over on 24 minutes and then shortly afterwards, following a surge from the excellent Mark Blair, 18-year-old left wing Scott Young looped around James Topping to score in the corner. Full back Jeff Park failed to convert both tries and two penalty opportunities as he struggled with the placed ball.
His shortcomings in that respect meant that Ballymena could only edge ahead 13-10 at the interval. When Bob Casey was yellow carded for a clumsy rather than malicious high tackle on a slipping Park on 47 minutes, Blackrock were once again short-handed but ironically it was they who appeared the more threatening.
The introduction of Ross Murphy at number eight gave them more impetus off the base of the scrum, and the simple philosophy of the pick and drive, at which Halpin, Shane Byrne, the industrious Trevor Hogan and Leo Cullen were particularly effective, yielded significant territorial gain. McGowan kicked two penalties, Casey returned and the home side needed to just control the ball and run down the clock.
Fortunately for Ballymena it was a case of `Noble oblige,' the Blackrock left wing running back a loose kick on halfway that should have been boot propelled to the corner. Five black jerseys converged on him, Noble was penalised for not releasing and suddenly Blackrock were back on their own line.
Still they had chances to relieve the pressure, but errors seeped through and on 78 minutes, the excellent Young looped outside Botha, stood up the last defender and side-stepped him to score a fine try. Outhalf Ajay Derwin converted and Ballymena's defence, which had been so resolute in the second half, allowed them to see out injury time.
Coach Andre Bester admitted to being relieved: "I think we showed a lot of character and determination. The guys in there (dressingroom) are happy to have won but are unhappy with the performance. A few years ago an Ulster club losing by 10 points away from home would have gone on to lose by 40 points. Not this team."
Scoring sequence: 7 mins: Halpin try, McGowan con, 7-0; 16 mins: McGowan pen, 10-0; 22 mins: Park pen, 10-3; 24 mins: Stewart try, 108; 29 mins: Young try, 10-13; 55 mins: McGowan pen, 13-13; 61 mins: McGowan pen, 16-13; 78 mins: Young try, Derwin con, 16-20.
BLACKROCK COLLEGE: C Kilroy; P Dunne, A Greally, M Jackson, P Noble; A McGowan, J Ferris; I McLauglin, S Byrne, G Halpin; R Casey, L Cullen (capt); T Hogan, J Ryan, R Rogers. Replacements: D Johnson for Dunne (half-time); R Murphy for Ryan (50 mins); N Treston for Halpin (80 mins).
BALLYMENA: J Park; J Topping, S Stewart, R Botha, S Young; A Derwin; B Free; N McKernan, P Shields, C Millar; G Longwell (capt), M Blair; A Graham, R Nelson, J Taggart. Replacements: W McAllister for Millar (75 mins).
Sin binned: M Jackson (Blackrock) 23-33 mins; R Casey (Blackrock) 47-57 mins.
Referee: A Lewis (IRFU).
