Ballynahinch are relegated

Ballynahinch are relegated

4 May 2016

THE Great Escape came to a crashing end at the capable hands of the Dublin University students, who consigned Ballynahinch to Division 1B of the Ulster Bank All-Ireland League.

Interestingly, Division 1A is now made up of seven Dublin-based sides from Leinster and three from Munster — Cork Constitution, Young Munster and Garryowen.

Division 1B now sees a much more geographically diverse and resource demanding mix of teams, ranging from teams in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Dublin, Athlone, Naas and, finally, a local derby team in the form of Ballymena.

The All-Ireland League is a huge challenge for all the Ulster teams who take part, as has been shown by the fortunes of ourselves and our provincial partners across the five divisions in the UBL.

Congratulations are due to Bangor for their fantastic season across all their teams, but in particular their first XV as they rise back into senior rugby and the rigours and demands of the UBL.

So to the match. The Trinity team have played at Ballymacarn Park twice in the last three years and have taken the home side close on both occasions, but came away winless.

It was clear from the off, that the students meant business and would be no respecters of Fortress Ballymacarn, although an early error saw the reliable Chris Quinn give the home side the lead. 

This seemed to spur the students on to greater things and when in possession, attacked the Ballynahinch line on every occasion, forcing the stretched defenders to throw everything they had into their defence.

Davy Nicholson was harshly yellow-carded on 10 minutes for a supposedly high tackle, leaving the County Down outfit with 14 men to hold off the supercharged visitors. 

Full credit to the home side as they absorbed a ferocious and attritional onslaught from the Dublin side and no scores were leaked during the yellow card period, with Quinn adding a further three points as the Trinity scrum struggled with the ‘Hinch tight eight.

The students’ first try was scored by number eight Tom Ryan close to the posts, following a well executed line-out maul and further pressure from their eager back line, with outhalf McDermott adding the extras.

The final points of the half came again from the boot of Quinn to give the Ballymacarn side a narrow 9-7 half-time lead.

Dublin University came out of the blocks apace in the second period and soon put pressure on the the ‘Hinch defenders, who were penalised very quickly again by referee Gary Conway, who had been very generous with the whistle when the home side were in possession.

McDermott added three points to give the visitors a slim lead, but one of Trinity’s most threatening runners, winger Max McFarland, helped them fly out of the blocks on the restart, the winger blasting clear to score after a quick tap penalty from deep.

His unconverted try moved Tony Smeeth’s youngsters into a 15-9 lead, with Quinn missing a kickable effort at the other end.

With the wind increasing at his back, outhalf McDermott landed a 64th minute penalty to put nine points between the sides and Hinch’s captain, Pritchard, saw the home side’s second yellow card of the match.

‘Hinch struggled with the missing back rower and had no answer as Trinity No 7 Brian du Toit’s breakdown skills and Paddy Lavelle’s midfield runs steered the students to to their most important triumph of the campaign.

This was a brutal encounter for both sides as was apparent from the bruised and battered faces leaving the playing surface at Ballymacarn Park, but full credit to the students who took the match to the home side and maintained the run of play throughout the game.

The visitors fully celebrated their win post match and were gracefully welcomed into the clubhouse for some excellent post match hospitality, something, as social media has shown, that Ballynahinch RFC is now much renowned for.

It was impressive to see such a large turnout at Ballymacarn Park, particularly with the Pro12 clash taking place at the same time in the Kingspan Stadium, but with friends from Clontarf, St Mary’s, Old Belvedere, Lansdowne and several Ulster clubs, Ballynahinch, although relegated, know that a warm welcome awaits once promoted back into the top flight of All Ireland rugby.

A huge vote of thanks has to go to the Hinch players who have committed all this season, but also to all the back room staff who give up a vast amount of personal time to look after the boys on the pitch.

A further vote of thanks has to also go to all the volunteers who beaver away in the background to make Ballynahinch RFC the formidable force of rugby in Ulster it has become and with five league title secured across the junior teams, much solace is taken for the future of rugby at the club and in this small part of Ulster.

Ballynahinch (1-15): Jonny Simpson, Jonny Murphy, Craig Trenier, John Donnan, James Simpson, Conor Joyce, Paul Pritchard (captain), Mike Graham, Aaron Cairns, Sam Windsor, Chris Quinn, Jordan Grattan, Davy Nicholson, David Busby, Justin Rea.

Replacements: Jonny Blair, Zack McCall, Jonny Madden, Lorcan Dow, James McBriar, Stuart Morrow, Chris Gibson.