HAIL OUR HEROES!

Never was that more evident than on St Patrick's Day as Ballymena Academy finally ended their 29-year quest for Northern Bank Schools' Cup glory with a thrilling 10-7 win over Belfast Royal Academy.

This was an afternoon that encapsulated the drama, the tension, the excitement of sport in the best possible fashion.

It was 'heart in mouth' material, especially in the closing stages for anyone connected with the Galgorm Road school - even more so for Academy coach John Andrews.

"It was certainly a pretty tense final few minutes," Andrews told Times Sport.

"The try we scored came at a perfect time and it was a real slap in the chops for BRA. We had played none in the first half but came in at half-time all square which gave us a lot of hope and belief.

"In the second half we started to keep the ball a lot better, we got into the half more and we started to put a bit of pressure on.

"Caleb's drop goal was excellent - it was one of those which was instinctive because he didn't have time to think about it.

"Our discipline in the last 15 minutes was excellent not to concede a penalty, especially as we had to go through quite a few phases of defence - George Hargy in particular made a crucial turnover in the closing stages.

"The last few minutes were almost surreal and I remember feeling totally helpless knowing there was nothing we as coaches could do because BRA were going for the win - they weren't interested in a draw.

"The clock at Ravenhill seemed to be saying that time was up and we put the ball out of player only for the referee to say there was another minute left but finally he blew," added John.

Not untypically in this cup run, Ballymena did it the hard way, coming from 7-0 down after BRA captain Conor Spence's clever kick bounced kindly for Jordan Buchanan to gather an score, with David Cartmill converting.

Ballymena, having failed to ignite for most of the opening period, produced the defining moment just shy of the interval when full-back Charlie Simpson popped a lovely reverse pass into the hands of the bull-like figure of Callum Patterson, who simply brushed aside an attempted tackle before an audacious one-handed off-load to the in-rushing Caleb Morrison who arrived at pace to score.

Patterson converted to leave the scores deadlocked at 7-7 at the break and give Academy new impetus for the second half.

What turned out to be the winning score came in the 41st minutes when, following a ruck, scrum-half Pumelo Banda fired a pass to half-back partner Patterson at chest-height. The out-half had microseconds to get the ball from hand to foot as BRA opponents closed in but his instinctive effort soared through the posts to give Academy a 10-7 lead.

The closing minutes made for agonising viewing from a Ballymena perspective as BRA pressed towards Ballymena territory, but the ever-present threat of giving away a penalty was averted by dogged yet disciplined defence.

Referee David Wilkinson added on an agonising couple of minutes' stoppage time at the end of the game - but when you've waited the best part of three decades, what's another few seconds?!

Ballymena Academy: Charlie Simpson, Jonathan McClelland, Camille Delpy, Peter Storey, Caleb Morrison, Callum Patterson, Pumulo Banda, Peter Wallace, George Dennison, Timothy Patton, David Whann, Matthew Rea, Kris Galloway, John Andrew, Sam McNabney. Replacement: George Hargy.