‘Hinch back at Kingspan

‘Hinch back at Kingspan

25 November 2015

WITH only one space left available at the Kingspan on December 17, the winter sun and a snow-topped Slieve Croob greeted the metropolitan visitors and home support at Ballymacarn Park for this First Trust Senior Cup semi-final replay.

Both teams were again impacted by Ulster and Ulster A matches and were relying on young teams to put the effort in on the pitch.

A fired-up Ballynahinch went on the attack from the off, but early handling errors saw them lose possession. Desperate defence resulted in a high tackle and Quins out half Tim Emerson got the opportunity to get the first points on the board, but he push his effort wide.

‘Hinch secured the ball back from the out and it was quickly moved wide to the in-form Manihera Eden who took off on what was to become a trademark break on the wing, only to be stopped in the visitors’ 22.

The Quins defence was quick to recover the ball from the isolated Eden and kicked deep into the Hinch half, but this allowed the swift running home backs to go on the attack.

The hard-working Chris Gibson moved the ball through the hands of the back line to Adam Craig, who kicked through and chased down his own kick. The ball took a favourable bounce to hand and Craig dotted down. Craig also added the extras to give ‘Hinch a 7-0 lead after 10 minutes.

Derek Suffern’s charges were using the high kick to great advantage and consistently put the visitors under pressure. An element of cynicism crept into the visitors’ game from the attacking pressure as their penalty count increased and their captain, McComb, was lucky only to be penalised for a late tackle.

On 19 minutes some excellent counter rucking from the back row triumvirate of Lorcan Dow, captain Paul Pritchard and Conor Joyce, saw Ballynahinch outfit recover the ball and allow Gibson to feed McBriar and the backs with the ball once again. Ex-Harlequins centre Will Stewart finished off a slick move with Craig again adding the extras.

Quins were to get the last say of the half when some excellent forward mauling, led by the able McComb, ended with replacement prop Peter Cooper crashing over the line for the Belfast side’s only score of the day.

In the second half Ballynahinch continue to pressurise the visitors with the high ball attack.  Captain Pritchard followed up on one high ball, forcing a penalty as Quins failed to roll away.

The line-out was the option chosen and the catch-and-drive was stopped just short of the Harlequins line. The ball was worked wide through the hands of Stuart Morrow to Aaron Ferris, on for the injured Craig, who was able to outpace the defence and dot down in the corner. McBriar missed the extras to leave it 19-5 on 45 minutes.

Ballynahinch continued to press and the visitors’ desperate defence again became the focus of referee Quinn as penalised them on 59 minutes, this time reaching for his pocket as No 7 Ollie Loughead got 10 minutes in the ‘bin’ for interfering with play.

Hinch again opted for the corner and the ball moved through several attacking phases across the full width of the pitch before John Donnan crashed over from the base of a ruck to add the home side’s fourth try of the day.

Quins did not lie down in the final 10 minutes and Eden had to make a couple of try-saving tackles.

Ballynahinchare in the final for a third successive year and will be looking to retain their title against a very in form Ballymena on December 17.

Ballynahinch (1-15): Jonny Blair, Zack McCall, Kelvin Hamilton, James Simpson, John Donnan, Lorcan Dow, Paul Pritchard, Conor Joyce, Christopher Gibson, James McBriar, Manihera Eden, Will Stewart, Stuart Morrow, Robin Harte, Adam Craig. Replacements: Stuart Orr, Andrew Harper, Gareth Gill, David Nicholson, Aaron Ferris.

Ballynahinch 24

Belfast Harlequins 5

FIRST TRUST SENIOR CUP SEMI-FINAL