Skins triumph at Kingspan to lift their fourth ever Towns Cup
Bank of Ireland Towns Cup Final
Enniskillen 38 Ballymena II 22
ENNISKILLEN are Towns Cup champions for the fourth time in their history after a 38-22 victory over Ballymena II at the Kingspan Stadium. Skins raced into an early lead on Monday with tries from Sam Balfour and George Foster giving them a 12-point lead after just 15 minutes, and although Ballymena fought back to reduce the deficit to just two points by half-time, a devastating scoring burst at the start of the second half ensured the trophy was coming back to Fermanagh for the first time since 2019.
Enniskillen held the early territorial advantage and it took them only three minutes to convert that into points. They collected a kick just inside their own half and James Ferguson broke through a tackle and fed a pass to Angus Keys, who released Balfour on the right flank, and he outpaced the defence to touch down. Eddie Keys pulled the conversion wide of the upright, but Enniskillen continued to dominate the early stages of the final.
Foster broke forward in possession and slipped a pass inside to Ben Mclaren, who was stopped five yards short of the try line. Moments later, Angus Keys came within yards of scoring, with Sam then denied his second score of the game by a desperate last-ditch tackle.
Balfour then initiated a break from halfway with Henry Keys knocked into touch two yards shy of the try line.
From the lineout, Enniskillen camped on the Ballymena line, but when the forwards failed to get over, they switched it to the backs and Eddie Keys’ pass was collected by Foster, who sidestepped a tackle and touched down to make it 10-0, with Keys kicking the conversion.
Ballymena’s first foray into Enniskillen’s 22 came in the 17th minute, and although Skins quickly cleared the danger, Ballymena fought back with a try after 26 minutes, driving over the line from a fiveyard scrummage to reduce the deficit to five.
Much of the remainder of the first half was played out in the centre of the pitch, with neither side able to carve out scoring opportunities – until the dying seconds of the half when Ballymena kicked a penalty from just outside the 22 to leave two points between the sides at the interval.
As in the first half, it was Enniskillen who were quickly out of the blocks from the restart, and with just over a minute gone, they added another five points when Stephen Balfour broke through a tackle and handed possession to Mclaren, who jinked past the last defender and touched down.
Keys converted the try to give Skins a nine-point cushion, and within five minutes that gap became 16 when Angus Keys sidestepped a tackle on the 22 and raced through underneath the posts, with Eddie Keys completing the conversion.
Ballymena were struggling to contain Enniskillen’s pacy and fluent running game and they were undone again after 55 minutes when Angus Keys surged through three tackles to carry the ball within yards of the try line and two phases later Eddie Keys’ long pass to Sam Balfour saw the winger make it 31-10.
Ballymena’s powerful forward pack forced the ball over the line with 15 minutes remaining to claw back five points, but Skins hit straight back with Ferguson pouncing on a fumble and setting up Henry Keys to score under the posts. Eddie Keys slotted over his fourth conversion of the afternoon, and although Ballymena’s forwards managed a late try, Enniskillen comfortably held on to ensure they finished their season with a trophy.