Ballynahinch get lesson from UCD in All-Ireland rout

23 September 2015

PERFECT conditions for rugby welcomed both teams and sets of supporters to Ballymacarn Park on Saturday for the second Ulster Bank League match of the season. With both teams were weakened through an enforced rest weekend for provincial players., this was always going to be an interesting match, especially with both sides suffering defeats in the initial weekend of the league. ‘Hinch coach Derek Suffern opted to give no less than seven new players a start.

UCD were instantly on the attack as they received the ball from the boot of Manihera Eden. After a couple of phases of very swift attacking play, the UCD scrum half dotted down in the corner after three minutes, but centre Conall Doherty was unsuccessful with the extras. Hinch 0 UCD 3.

Not to be outdone, ‘Hinch showed their attacking form with Irish sevens star Aaron Cairns, who was playing on the wing, making an incisive break, only to be stopped short and a penalty being awarded for the UCD tackler not rolling away.

David McIlwaine was unsuccessful with the kick and Hinch had further woes when lock John Donnan left the field with a bad injury to his knee and was replaced in the front five by Keith Dickson.

The students went back on the attack and used their strong running and excellent ball retention through the phases to work their way towards the try line.

Ireland U-20 international Peadar Timmons got the students’ second try and Doherty made sure with the boot to secure the extras. After 11 minutes ‘Hinch trailed 12-0.

‘Hinch fought hard throughout this phase of the match, but never looked too threatening as the UCD defence held solid.

Notably, the home side’s discipline held and their constant pressure forced another penalty as the students’ frustrations surfaced. McIlwaine added three points on 19 minutes to get the Ballymacarn men on the scoreboard.

Another Ireland U-20 international, Barry Daly, was next on the scoreboard on 26 minutes and again two minutes later with the bonus point try as the ‘Hinch defence weakened and allowed the students to run through for easy tries.

Mike Graham worked hard in defence from the number 4 position and new signing Lorcan Dow was notable playing at in the number 8 shirt. Captain Paul Pritchard was working hard in the loose, but the home side seemed to lack cohesion and failed to string any decent phases of play together as the UCD defence held firm.

The returning Richard Reaney slotted a penalty for the home side on 37 minutes and at half time they trailed 22-6.

The second half started with Reaney’s penalty quickly cancelled out as once again indiscipline in the loose let the home side down and Holland added a further three points for the visitors.

The home side again came under pressure and frustration started to creep into the defence. Aaron Cairns was shown a yellow for a high tackle on 45 minutes and seven minutes later captain Pritchard also went to the sideline for an alleged deliberate knock-on.

Down to 13 men, ‘Hinch managed to hold off the student onslaught, with only one penalty going the visitors’ way on 58 minutes.

With typical Ballymacarn resilience, the next 10 minute phase of play all went the way of Suffern’s charges, but they couldn’t breach the UCD defensive line and the students opted to bring on fresh legs, resulting in sub Nick McCarthy darting in for an unconverted score on 68 minutes.

Entering the last 10 minutes, Suffern also opted for fresh legs to counter the poor handling and lack of basic drills that the demoralised home side were clearly suffering from.

James McBriar injected his usual reliable energy in the out-half position, defending well and clearly his line whilst under pressure. McBriar finished off an excellent backs line move on 75 minutes and converted his own try to take the score to 33-13.

Any hope of a late comeback was soon dashed as the fitter students ran in a further two converted tries to round off their rout of the Ballymacarn team.

Ballynahinch: Kelvin Hamilton, Jonathan Murphy, Craig Trenier, John Donnan, Mike Graham, Thomas Donnan, Paul Pritchard (captain), Lorcan Dow, Conor Spence, Manihera Eden, Aaron Cairns, Richard Reaney, Stuart Morrow, David Busby, David McIlwaine. Replacements: Zac McCall, Jonny Blair, Keith Dickson, James McBriar, Davy Nicholson.

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