Ballynahinch 38 Queen’s 27
Saturday 7th September 2019
Senior Cup 1st round
James Kirk reporting from Ballymacarn Park.
Ballynahinch put a disappointing performance in their season opener at Rainey behind them as they progressed to the next round of the Senior Cup with a hard-fought victory over a Queen’s side coached by former Hinch supremo Derek Suffern.
Brian McLaughlin selected his strongest available side in the absence of contracted players involved in the Celtic Cup for Ulster. Sean O’Hagan lined out at inside centre as the midfield injury crisis continues, with Ryan Wilson coming into out-half and veteran Aaron Ferris patrolling the right wing. A strong pack included Olly Loughead at wing forward on his return to the first team following injury.
The home side started strongly, dominating possession and territory. They went ahead when George Pringle cantered in under the posts and then laid siege to the Queens line only to give away a penalty when a score looked certain.
Anticipating a kick to touch, Hinch switched off and Queen’s ran the ball out of defence up the touchline and then offloaded superbly from the resulting ruck to score in the opposite corner. A potential 14-0 scoreline had been rapidly turned into 7-7 and the students dominated the next 15 mins as they put pace on the ball at every opportunity and refused to be drawn into an arm wrestle with the bigger Hinch pack. A penalty put them ahead and a great angle in midfield led to a line break and another try.
Aaron Cairns closed the gap with a well-taken try and when skipper John Donnan rumbled over for a rare try to make the halftime score 21-15 the local support felt their team had weathered the storm. An injury to Pringle lead to another midfield reshuffle with Greg Hutley coming into outhalf and Wilson moving to outside centre.
Ulster Schools star Hutley showed some nice touches but the Hinch men started to fall foul of the referee early in the second half and indiscipline led to Queen’s pinning them back in their own 22 and eventually working the numbers for a score in the corner. An excellent conversion gave them the lead once more.
The introduction of Ben Cullen into the front row saw the home side finally exert their superiority up front and a scrum penalty saw O’Hagan kick his side in front at 24-22 on the hour mark. Cairns added his second moments later and the home side should have pulled clear.
However the students refused to lie down and continued with their all-action attacking rugby. They deservedly closed the gap to just four points with another fine score as the game entered its closing stages. Cairns then put matters beyond doubt by completing his hat trick to send the locals through.
A positive result despite a mixed performance and plenty to work on with AIL Division 1A just four weeks away. Brian McLaughlin and the coaching team will be ramping up the training in readiness for the visit of Terenure on the first Saturday in October.
Ballynahinch 1st 15: Caldera, Piper, Blair, Simpson, Donnan (c), Luney, Loughead, Boomer, Cairns, Wilson, Patterson, O’Hagan, Pringle, Ferris, Wright.
