A moment of black humour entered into this almost unbearably one-sided match when referee David McHugh blew his whistle for half-time. As the Ballymena players jogged towards the side of the pitch a voice from the crowd, stunned by the home side being 35-0 down, roared: "Shut the gates. We haven't finished with you yet." Two minutes after the resumption, as if to lay it on thick, St Mary's ran in their sixth and final try.

The result does of course force Ballymena to take a hard look at themselves. The Ulster side have not won any of their four visits to Templeville Road since the AIL started, this one being the most complete rout of the lot.

To emphasise the positive, Ballymena won the second half, Simon Broughton's try on 52 minutes greeted with a disbelieving silence. But as St Mary's coach Brent Pope pointed out after the game, his side had the game won and they had their bonus point, their first of the season. They simply dropped the tempo.

In fairness to both teams, the match was shaped more by St Mary's excellence across the board than Ballymena's inadequacies. The visitor's backs naturally shone with Denis Hickie and John McWeeney scoring two tries each, prop David Clare and Peter McKenna adding one each.

Mark McHugh, after a wobbly start with two missed penalties, proceeded to convert all six tries.

Of all the players, however, it might be McKenna who lost most from this encounter. Just before half-time the thrilling full back went over on his right ankle and was forced to hobble from the field. With suspected ligament damage, it is probable that he will miss next week's A international against England at Northampton.

"I'm devastated for Peter," said Pope. "It's a hard knock on him. He was watching his shoulder before the match and ended up hurting his ankle. I said to him it's not the end of the world. We'll see what happens in England. I'm sure he'll get another chance."

Throughout the first half McKenna showed wonderful pace and timing as St Mary's created acres of space using Hickie coming across off his right wing and McKenna hitting the line. Four of their tries were run in from 35 metres or further out from the Ballymena posts.

"I was a bit surprised by Ballymena," said Pope. "On paper they have a good side, players like Blair and Longwell and Topping. But there was a 20-point wind out there and our discipline was very good. Once you've built points up you're going to take your foot off the pedal."

The discipline of St Mary's was indeed most impressive. Even with the wind at his back in the second half, Ballymena full back Simon Mason was afforded only one attempt at goal in the entire match and that was the conversion attempt following Broughton's try.

Victor Costello was irrepressible at number eight as was the second row pairing of Malcolm O'Kelly and Ian Bloomer. Gareth Gannon and Mark McHugh also had big games with sound defensive work and good handling in moving the ball wide to Hickie, McKenna and McWeeney.

Sitting comfortably on top of the table, St Mary's can now look forward to a week's break before their next game. For Ballymena that will constitute along interval, time perhaps to gell into the team they are expected to be.

Scoring sequence: 15 mins J McWeeney try, D McHugh con 7-0; 19: P McKenna try, M McHugh con 14-0; 25: D Hickie try, D McHugh con 21-0; 38: D Clare try, D McHugh con 28-0; 40: J McWeeney try, D McHugh con 35-0; 42: D Hickie try, D McHugh con 42-0; 52: S Broughton try 42-5.

St Mary's College: P McKenna; D Hickie, M McHugh, G Gannoon, J McWeeney; F Campion, J Kilbride; P Coyle, P Smyth, D Clare, I Bloomer, M O'Kelly, T Brennan (capt), R Doyle, V Costello. Replacements: R McIlreavy for McKenna (39 mins), P Higgins for Costello (58) P O'Sullivan for O'Kelly (63), V Costello for Brennan (67), G Hickie for Smyth (75).

Ballymena: S Mason; S Stewart, S Broughton, R Botha, J Park; A Andrews, M Edwards; N McKernan, A Stewart, C Millar, G Longwell (capt.), M Blair, A Graham, D Topping, C McCarey. Replacements: N Robson for Edwards (45 mins), J Wells for Andrews (62), W McAllister for Millar (63), D O'Kane for Graham (68).

Referee: D McHugh (MRA)