UCD come through strong to win the points at the end against Ballynahinch
AIL Div 1,
Venue: Bellfield, 21st March 2026,
UCD 28 Ballynahinch 21.
UCD stole the points with the last play of the game at Belfield after Ballynahinch failed to capitalise on their domination of possession and territory over the opening sixty minutes of the contest writes James Kirk.
Adam Craig’s squad travelled a little light with injuries and unavailability starting to bite.
However, they had dominated this fixture in recent seasons and opened the scoring through skipper Claytan Milligan while UCD were down a player to the sin bin.
The students fought back with a quick brace of tries aided by sloppy defending from the away side before a second Milligan maul score levelled proceedings on the half-time whistle.
By this stage Conor Rankin had come off with what looked like a nasty hamstring injury, forcing a rejig to the backline with Adam Bennett joining twin brother Daniel in the back three and handing the kicking duties to Paul Kerr.
Ballynahinch then fell behind to a sucker punch when UCD took the lead completely against the run of play, taking an intercept almost the length of the field for a converted try.
Milligan had also departed the scene with an ankle injury at this point but Ballynahinch regrouped and continued to dominate play.
Veteran replacement Aaron Cairns levelled things up with an opportunist try with fifteen minutes to go but Ballynahinch were unable to exercise their earlier control off the match.
Photo: John Dickson/DicksonDigital).
Hinch failed to finish the students off and were duly punished in the dying seconds when the students put their best passage of possession together, eventually creating a line break which breached the Ballynahinch defence and led to the winning score from close range a few phases later.
The final home game of the season is this Saturday March 28th versus Old Belvedere.
All support welcome.
Ballynahinch RFC Round-up For 21st March 2026
Club Notes
The second XV moved just won win from the league title with an eight try demolition of local rivals Banbridge.
The thirds continued their surge up the table with a ten try victory over Belfast Harlequins. Seven wins from their last eight fixtures sees them in third place with two games to play and they will hope to maintain that form ahead of the Crawford Plate final on April 25th.
The fourths and fifths remain in pole position to win their respective league sections ahead of their own Cup Finals at Affidea Stadium on 25th April.
The U18 boys continue to take the long road towards the U18 plate final with a semi final away to Inishowen this weekend their reward for a quarter final victory at Strabane.
Girls rugby continues to thrive with participation up and results beginning to follow. Ballynahinch hosted a brilliant U16/U14 7s event last week with local schools taking part.
The final AIL home fixture is against Old Belvedere on 28th March. To book your place at the pre-match lunch contact James Kirk on 07966143184.
Youth Training continues on Mondays at 7pm for boys and Wednesdays at 7pm for girls. All players U12/U14/U16/U18 welcome and no experience necessary. Contact Johnny Cullen for details on 07595651901.
Mini rugby continues on Saturday mornings from 9.30-11am. Boys and girls from P1 – Yr8 are all welcome, with training run for each age group in their school year.
Mini rugby news is posted weekly on the club Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ballynahinchrfcofficial.
For more details contact Kenny Morton – Mini Convenor on 07813157614 or email: [email protected].
