Last Saturday Ards welcomed Connemara to Hamilton Park for a crucial All Ireland League battle. Whilst it is still relatively early days in the League campaign, before going into this game, both sides found themselves camped at the bottom of the League with no wins and Ards only having a slight advantage due to a better points difference. Over the years, the teams have locked horns on many occasions and have had some epic encounters. The importance of the outcome of the match was therefore not lost on either side, or to their supporters.

Ards won the toss and Connemara kicked off with the benefit of a strong breeze behind them, playing towards the Comber Road. The visitors started with confidence, with some impressive ball carries and their ability to recycle the ball from rucks brought them deep into the Ards half. Ards had difficulty in getting their hands on the ball and after just four minutes the Connemara out half, Sean Joyce converted a penalty to give them a 0 – 3 lead.

From the restart however, Ards took the game to the opposition. With a clear advantage in the scrums and aggressive play from the back row, Ards spend the next 15 minutes probing for a weakness in the visitors’ defence. However, the fighting spirit of Connemara was very much to the fore and it was not until the 20th minute that Ards made their first breakthrough. Mark Banford, playing at scrum half for the unavailable Kyle Agnew, cleverly anticipated a kick out of defence and charged down the attempted clearance. He sprinted through to win the touchdown for an opportunist’s try. Paul Cox calmly slotted over the conversion and Ards had a 7-3 lead. The home team continued to dominate possession for the remainder of the half, but without adding to their score. Then, the in 35th minute a back line move just outside the Connemara 22 metre line, broke down and the ball bounced kindly into the grateful hands of the Connemara out half Joyce. He proceeded to run the length of the pitch and score a breakaway try which he then converted to give his team a 7-10 lead at the interval.

The game was now in the balance and Ards knew they had to be patient and stick to their game plan to record a much needed victory. In the 45th minute Paul Cox converted a penalty to make it all square at 10-10. In the 53rd minute, Rob McCausland, who had another excellent all round game, used his considerable strength to score a try to the right of the posts and again, Cox added the conversion to give Ards a 17-10 lead. Connemara were quickly back into the game, when Joyce converted a penalty just three minutes later to leave Ards with a precarious 4 point lead. To their credit, they proceeded to dominate the remainder of the half both with possession and territory. Some excellent offloading in the tackle involving Foster, Minis and Young gave Michael Creighton some space to work in and he used all his skills to score an excellent try close to the posts in the 64th minute. With Cox adding the conversion Ards now had a 24-13 lead. Despite Graeme Taylor receiving a yellow card, the fourteen Ards players continued to exert pressure on the Connemara defence. A quick ball from a series of rucks put Neil Armstrong away on the right wing and he cleverly committed the Connemara full back before passing to the ever present Creighton, who stormed over and ran round close to the posts for a try, converted by Cox, to leave the final score at 31-13 in favour of Ards. The 4th try was of course, the crucial one, giving Ards a much needed 5 point win which lifts them a few places up the League table.

There is no match for Ards this week but on 17th November they are on the road again, this time to Sligo. The corresponding fixture last year resulted in a narrow win for Sligo at Hamilton Park and Ards will be hoping to reverse the outcome this time around.

The Ards Squad for the Connemara match was: Millar, Quinn, Wyle, McCausland, Dowie, Creighton, Broughall, Minis, Banford, Young, N Beggs, Taylor, Parkhill, Cox, J Beggs, Dodd, Foster, Graham, Armstrong, McIlwaine.