Shrouded in controversy on the run-in, fighting an almost forlorn battle to keep its foothold in Irish rugby and often being pilloried as a competition in irreversible decline, the AIB League still has to have a helluva lot going for it when it can produce veritable crackers like this. In truth 82 points comprising 10 tries equally shared and a combined tally of 14 kicks out of 15 converted really only tells the half of it. It was simply breathtaking stuff, as almost from first to last there was a near manic pursuit of tries.
At first the force was with Ballymena but their mental brittleness, when the going gets tough, was again exposed as Garryowen mounted an inspired comeback which was special even by their standards. Had they pulled it off at Dooradoyle on Saturday, it would even have eclipsed their 14-man comeback from a 17-3 interval deficit in last year's semi-final win over St Mary's.
Trailing 31-3 after 31 minutes, 34-10 at the break and 41-17 approaching the last 15 minutes, Garryowen were repeatedly on the canvas, but they just kept getting up and gloriously came within a kick of a draw at 41-38 after 78 minutes.
Like most, they possibly didn't realise until afterwards that a merited draw would have earned them a place in the play-offs at Ballymena's expense before ultimately falling short. Dooradoyle thus transpired as the closest run play-off equation and as near to a quarter-final as made no difference. Even so it was an enervating effort in John Hall's last game as coach.
"To dig as deep as they did in the second-half after the week they had was extraordinary," admitted the Ballymena coach Andre Bester. "They are a club of character. The core and the heart of the club is so immense, they will never lie down."
Even at 41-17, Bester was warning those within earshot that Garryowen would come back. "I tell you why. Last year we played Garryowen, we were winning 13-0 with six minutes to go in the match, and they scored 19 points in six minutes. We knew that Jeremy Staunton is an absolutely amazing attacking player," he added, "and you can see every moment he touched the ball something happened.
"Maybe in time he'll settle down in temperament and become maybe one of the great backs of Irish rugby. I can see that."
Bester's unsolicited eulogies of the boy wonder were utterly justified. Staunton gets unfair stick, and deserves more patience. There's little or nothing the 20-year-old can't do with a rugby ball. Mentally, he was a step ahead of everyone on the pitch, scything breaks, chips over the top, all manner of varied distribution, short restarts to himself.
He's been a little out of sight and out of mind in what must have been a frustrating season. He probably deserved a run on the As, rather than another season with the under-21s, reportedly outstanding though it was. But if some don't appreciate him - and much to Garryowen's annoyance the IRFU have still to contract him for next season - others do.
It is believed that Harlequins, Saracens and London Irish are all chasing him. If this gifted talent is lost to English club rugby it won't reflect well on the system here, though then again, maybe he'd be better off elsewhere.
He certainly made poor Bester age, as he watched his team put to the pins of their collars. Most of the marginals seemed to go their way, such as the apparent forward pass with which Mark Edwards put Simon Mason away for what proved a critical break-out try in the second-half, but in fairness the game said much about Alain Rolland's burgeoning refereeing and on that occasion, as ever, he was right up with the play. "The moment you start slowing it down, your game goes. It's all mental and it's because we haven't been in this position before. There are so many young players who haven't tasted this now. It was like a Cup quarter-final," said Bester, hoping it would benefit his team for the semi-final clash at St Mary's. Surprisingly, he and the Ballymena connections didn't realise they had become Ulster's first semi-finalists.
Ballymena's four-try haul in the opening half-hour reflected their pack's control, their willingness to run the ball from anywhere, the penetration of Dion O'Cuinneagain, Simon Broughton, Rhys Boths, Shane Stewart and co, the ability to capitalise on Garryowen playing premature and risky catch-up, and a host of missed first-up tackles.
What followed again called into question their mental strength, but underlined why no one can ever doubt Garryowen's.
Scoring sequence: 13 mins: Mason pen, 0-3; 15: J Topping try, Mason con, 0-10; 18: Keane pen, 3-10; 22: Stewart try, Mason con, 3-17; 27: Broughton try, Mason con, 3-24; 31: Graham try, Mason con, 3-31; 34: Keane try and con, 10-31; 38: Mason pen, 10-34; 45: Staunton try, Keane con, 17-34; 54: Mason try, Mason con, 17-41; 65: Varley try, Keane con, 24-41; 72: Staunton try, Keane con, 31-41; 78: McCarthy try, Keane con, 38-41; 81: Mason pen, 38-44.
Garryowen: D Crotty; M McNamara, K keane, B O'Beill, P McDonagh; J Staunton, T Tierney; K Hartigan, P Humphreys, R Laffan, R Leahy, S Leahy, C Varley, P Hogan, P Neville. Replacements: K Hartigan for McNamara, S McCarthy for Tierney, J Giltenane for Hartigan, F Costello for S leahy, A Bermingham for Neville (all halftime), M Roberts for McDonagh (59 mins).
Ballymena: S Mason; J Topping, S Stewart, R Botha, S McDowell; S Broughton, M Edwards; N McKernan, A Stewart, C Millar, M Blair, G Longwell, A Graham, D O'Cuinneagain, D Topping. Replacement: A Dougan for Topping (74 mins).
Referee: A Rolland (Leinster).
