Hinch go to Town

Hinch go to Town

8 April 2015

BALLYNAHINCH seconds won the Powerade Towns Cup for the first time at Kingspan Stadium on Easter Monday.

It was the first time Ballynahinch has won the competition since the 1st XV achieved the same feat 20 years ago, prior to becoming a senior club.

Tries from Chris Orr and James McBriar, along with two conversions and a goal from the latter, secured the win for the Ballymacarn Park side.

The result also denied Clogher Valley, who scored tries through Philip Holme and Ryan Wilson, of a fourth title in five years.

Ballynahinch started strongest, with McBriar, the captain, orchestrating things from his fly half position and putting runners into space. The early pressure yielded a penalty opportunity for David Harris, but his effort drifted to the left of the posts.

Ballynahinch found a breakthrough soon after as scrum half Christopher Gibson broke from a maul and fed Orr, who accelerated through a sizeable gap and touched down under the posts.

McBriar added the extras to push his team into a 7-0 lead.

Clogher Valley responded in typical fashion with a robust period of play from their pack that resulted in replacement loose forward Wilson crashing over from close range. Holme missed the conversion.

Buoyed by that score, Clogher started to play with greater enterprise and that was rewarded with another try soon afterwards.

Andy Breen broke free down the right and his neat kick was collected by second row forward, Michael Treanor, who carried strongly to within metres of the try line. 

A few drives by the front five sucked in the ‘Hinch defence and Holme broke through to punish them.

Paul Armstong missed the conversion, but the Tyrone outfit held the advantage, 

10-7.

That lead was short lived however, as McBriar produced a moment of magic to regain the the upper hand on the stroke of half-time.

His team won possession from the restart and the fly half chipped over the onrushing defence and collected the kind bounce to race in. His simple conversion left the score reading 14-10 at the interval.

McBriar had a chance to extend the lead shortly after the interval, but his effort from the tee was off target. Clogher again looked to hit back and had a long period of pressure in opposition territory, forcing ‘Hinch into conceding a number of penalties. 

One infringement saw full back Michael Carson sin binned for cynical play and he was further punished when the resultant penalty was knocked between the posts by Holme to reduce the arrears to 14-13.

In the final ten minutes, as Clogher looked to speed things up in search of another score, ‘Hinch sub John Gunson was also yellow carded for a deliberate knock on.

Despite being at a numerical disadvantage, ‘Hinch played a superb territorial game in the closing stages and McBriar dropped into the pocket and slotted a beautifully struck drop goal to provide some breathing space. 

There was still time for Clogher to mount some late attacks, but there was no way through the resilient defence and ‘Hinch held on to the delight of their travelling support.

Ballynahinch II 17

Clogher Valley 13

TOWNS CUP FINAL