‘Hinch have to hold tight

‘Hinch have to hold tight

SATURDAY was the first time the senior side had played at home since the tragedy at the Spence farm three weeks ago.

The ‘Hinch stood for a minute’s silence in their new kit, which had the addition of a large NS, added to the sleeve in memory of Noel Spence, Graham Spence and Nevin Spence.

Life at the club must now continue, but the memory of these three good men will always live on and the prayers and thoughts of everyone at Ballymacarn Park will continue to be with the Spence family in the months and years ahead.

When the game with Belfast Harlequins got underway the ‘Hinch made a the perfect start and full back Adam Craig found a gap in the Quins midfield and surged deep into the visitors 22.

When he was eventually tackled he managed to offload to Stuart Morrow and Michael Graham continued the attack. Graham found winger Michael Lawton at pace and he did well to cut inside Gareth Rourke, race in behind the posts and dive in to score with just two minutes played. Lawton added the extras to give the ‘Hinch an early seven point lead.

A Lawton penalty goal in the ninth minute increased the home tally to 10 points after Quins failed to release the tackled player.

As the penalty count mounted, referee Leo Colgan yellow carded Jonny Simpson in the 38th minute for playing the ball with his hand at a ruck. This time Rory Scholes stepped up and converted taking his side into the half-time break trailing 10-3.

‘Hinch made the better start to the second half with Lawton converting his second penalty goal in the 43rd minute to take Hinch 13-3 clear.

Harlequins wasted no time in taking advantage. In the 55th minute they quickly took play deep into the ‘Hinch 22. Moving play through a number of phases, the ball eventually found the hands of Rory Scholes and he came off the left wing to find a gap in the ‘Hinch midfield.

He then put Adam D’Arcy clear to cross in the right hand corner. Scholes failed to convert leaving Quins trailing 13-8.

The battle at the breakdown spilled over in the 69th minute with a dust up between a number of players with the referee taking both captains aside in attempt to clam things down.

In the 71st minute Scholes closed the gap to 13-11 after Pritchard was pinged for going off his feet at a ruck, but ‘Hinch had done enough.

Ballynahinch: Adam Craig, Michael Lawton, Stuart Morrow, Robin Harte, Aaron Ferris, Harry McAleese, Blaine McIlroy, Michael Graham (captain), Paul Pritchard, Jonny Madden, Chris Napier, James Simpson, Jonny Simpson, Andrew Harper, Kyle McCall. Replacements: Aaron Cairns, David McGuigan, Roger McBurney, Matthew Nelson, Chris Stevenson.