Ballynahinch are flying high

Ballynahinch are flying high

6 May 2015

IT was a hugely successful three days for Ballynahinch.

The firsts secure the double with a 27-7 Ulster Championship League victory over City of Derry to win the Stevenson Shield for the third successive year.

They were also named on Friday night at the annual Heineken Ulster Rugby Awards as the Kukri Rugby Club of the Year for a third year and Paul Pritchard collected the Ken Goodall Player of the Year award.

On top of that the thirds reached the Final of the Harden Cup with a 24-7 win at Malone thirds on Thursday evening and the Evergreens eliminated Letterkenny seconds 19-10 in the semi-finals of the Ravenhill Cup on Saturday.

‘Hinch thirds will play Dromore seconds in the decider at Banbridge this Saturday at 2.30pm, while at the same time the Evergreens will play Cookstown at Portadown in their final. 

The conditions at Ballymacarn Park for the visit of Derry were far from ideal with a slippery ball and heavy going underfoot, but the home side adapted well. 

They dominated the possession and territory but only managed one try in the first period.

This came after 10 minutes when centre Stuart Morrow ran through to touch down. 

Richard Reaney kicked an early second-half penalty to increase ‘Hinch’s lead. Derry struck back when Richard Baird crashed over. Semple added the conversion, but the remainder of the game belonged to Hinch. 

On the hour, Conor Pyper scored and that was followed by a penalty try goaled by Reaney. In the last play scrum-half Christopher Gibson linked with James McBriar and he chipped through for Morrow to seal his second try, which was converted.

Ronnie Duncan, the Ballynahinch RFC Director of Rugby, thought it was an entertaining encounter and huge effort from his charges despite the very difficult conditions.

“We were consistently on the attack and Derry were given very few opportunities to score,” he said.

“They certainly fought hard and never gave up but we have strength in depth and that is one of the reasons for our success this season.”