Ballynahinch power past Shannon aces

Ballynahinch power past Shannon aces

8 November 2023

BALLYNAHINCH took another five-point haul from a home fixture as they ran out comfortable winners against nine-time champions Shannon.

Adam Craig was able to welcome back Mark Best, Ethan Graham and veteran Aaron Cairns to the starting back line, while Bryn Ward made his first start for the club in the middle of the back row. 

Shannon were held up by a road accident with the match kicking off 15 minutes later than scheduled and the home side seemed to suffer from the change to their preparations.

Losing Bradley Luney to injury following the first passage of play didn’t help matters and they were lacklustre for most of the first half, failing to come away with points from multiple entries into the red zone.

Their opponents offered little and Ballynahinch should have had more than a Claytan Milligan try to show for their efforts as half time approached.

Flanker and self-appointed Shannon hype man Kelvin Brown all but sealed his side’s fate with a red card in first half injury time following a high shot on Ward. Conor Rankin slotted the penalty to take the home side ten points clear at the interval.

Despite a brief foray deep into Ballynahinch territory from 14-man Shannon, the home side took complete control of the match around the hour mark with a two-try salvo.

Milligan scored his second from a textbook rolling maul that will have had forwards coach John Gunson beaming.

The evergreen Cairns then made a trademark weaving break from the kickoff and the move resulted in a close range attacking scrum. The ball was flashed wide and Best finished from his favoured distance of less than five metres to seal the result and give his side 15 minutes to secure a bonus point. 

A botched exit from the Shannon restart gave the Limerick side field position and after their first attempt to maul over failed, Ballynahinch failed to chase down Jack Milligan’s long clearance properly and left space for the away side to exploit and they duly capitalised n some sloppy tackling to score.

At this stage time was running out, but Ballynahinch saved the day’s best passage of play for the bonus point try with a multiphase move started by a Jack Milligan rip in his own 22 and twice involving Ethan 

Graham before ending with an inside pass for athletic lock Declan Horrox to dive over in front of the clubhouse to widespread jubilation from the home support.

Trinity are the next opponents in College Park this weekend and despite being winless so far they are not to be underestimated. All support welcome.

Ballynahinch (1-21): George Saunderson, Claytan Milligan, Kyle McCall (capt), Bradley Luney, Thomas Donnan, Callum Irvine, Zack McCall, Bryn Ward, Chris Gibson, Dominic Clapcott, Ethan Graham, Mark Best, Paul Kerr, Aaron Cairns, Conor Rankin, David Cooper, John Dickson, Declan Horrox, Arthur Johnston, Jack Milligan, Matthew Booth.