‘Hinch continue fine league form

‘Hinch continue fine league form

18 October 2023

BALLYNAHINCH scored a try in the 80th minute to claim a bonus-point victory and continue their excellent start to the All-Ireland League season.

Anything less would have been an injustice as they played some excellent running rugby and their vaunted opponents relied heavily on their maul and a couple of defensive lapses to stay in the game. 

Adam Craig made just one change from the side which closed the match against Terenure, with rapid winger Shay Storey bringing try-scoring form from the seconds on his AIL 1A debut.

Storey took just two minutes to make his mark, finishing off a strike move from the first Ballynahinch possession.

A shortened line-out enabled Callum Irvine to run a decoy line as the ball was fired wide to Paul Kerr, who made ground before offloading to Ethan Graham coming from the opposite wing. He drew his man and put Storey away for a superb team try. 

The rest of the first half resulted in stalemate and Cork Constitution turned round with the breeze in the second half relieved that the home side hadn’t converted a couple of good attacking positions into points.

The Munster outfit immediately drew level when a defensive lapse on the blind side allowed out-half James Taylor too much time and space and he duly put Dan Hurley over in the corner.

The home side turned up the heat with two superb scores. Storey burst on to a loose Con clearance just inside his own half and stormed through the cover before putting Graham over in the corner.

Then some tremendous interplay between backs and forwards, with Kerr involved three times in the sequence, ended with Irvine and Declan Horrox linking well to put a jubilant John Dickson over to take the lead out to 14 points.

Con showed all their experience and nous to battle back into the game, capitalising on a missed tackle in the wide channel to go over in the corner and mauling their way over to level the scores with 15 minutes remaining.

A superb Conor Rankin penalty edged Ballynahinch back into the lead before another unstoppable maul saw them take the lead for the first time as the game entered the last ten minutes.

To their credit, Ballynahinch retained their composure and despite spurning a great opportunity from a five-metre scrum and being turned over on their next attack, they upped the tempo again to lay siege to the Con line and mauled their way over to seal victory with the final play of the match.

Claytan Milligan was the scorer and it was a fine reward for a player who has battled through 80 minutes in successive weeks despite carrying a hamstring problem. His attitude typifies the spirit in the camp and it is a tribute to the culture set by Craig and his team.

The fixture list has been unkind to the locals, opening away at the champions followed by league standard bearers Con at home and then a trip to Lansdowne next week on the Aviva Stadium main pitch.

They are in good shape to get something from next weekend before a rest week and two home games in the next block of fixtures.

Ballynahinch (1-21): John Dickson, Claytan Milligan, Kyle McCall (Capt), Tommy Donnan, Declan Horrox, Callum Irvine, Zack McCall, Bradley Luney, Chris Gibson, Dominc Clapcott, Shay Storey, Paul Kerr, Matthew Booth, Ethan Graham, Conor Rankin, Harry McCormick, Conor Piper, Paddy Boomer, Bryn Ward, Aaron Cairns, Ryan Wilson.