Absolutely glorious conditions saw a great crowd turn out to watch a fantastic contest between two sides intent on attacking rugby, with Hinch’s Ulster Academy prospects keeping the blal in hand at every opportunity. The sides traded penalties early on, with Stephen O’Neill on the mark twice to leave the scores at 6-6, before Shane Donovan got in a big hand off to get outside his opposite number and score in the right corner. O’Neill followed this up with a penalty to give us a 14-6 lead.
Fergal Walsh was then sent for a ten minute rest for a lineout infringement, and this gave the visitors the chance to strike back. We defended well, but Ballynahinch forced their way over just before half time to leave the score 14-13 at the break. The visitors kept their foot on the gas, scoring soon into the second half, and at 20-14 down, things weren’t going our way. However, this side isn’t used to losing, and collectively seemed to be spurred on by going behind. After winning a penalty, they kicked to touch, won the lineout and mauled over in one heave. Substitute Niall Lalor got the touch down, and despite the missed conversion, we were only a point behind.
This was followed by a period of cracking end to end rugby, as both sides sought to get a grip on the game by keeping ball in hand and running from deep. A breakout from our own 22 was eventually turned over deep in Ballynahinch territory, who then spun it wide. Intense pressure at the breakdown saw Mark O’Neill get a boot on the ball which allowed Robert Duke to hack ahead, gather brilliantly and deliver a sumptuous offload to Kyle McCoy to score under the posts. Stephen O’Neill made no mistake with the conversion, and suddenly we were 6 points up and looking comfortable. A big turn around in a few short minutes.
We kept the pressure on, and further spoiling at the breakdown allowed Mark O’Neill to tack on two extra penalties to increase the lead to 32-20, with Hinch receiving a warranted yellow card in the process. The numbers were evened up when McCoy was binned for a questionable early tackle, but the defence held strong, and almost pinched a try bonus point when Kev O’Neill broke superbly down the right. It wasn’t to be, but this was a still a fantastic win for the home side. Home wins will be crucial this season, and to turn around the match so effectively shows the mental strength of this squad. The depth of the squad was evident too, with James O’Donoghue starting at out half, and U20s Niall Lalor and Stephen O’Neill looking to the manor born. Dad Ciaran cut a proud figure on the touchline, as three of his sons played big roles in the win.
A good win, with plenty to work on, with Mary’s likely to prove an acid test next Saturday. On this week’s evidence, we’re in for a cracker!