UBL Match Report
Ballynahinch RFC UCC RFC
Richard Hart reports from Ballymacarn Park on Saturday 12 November 2016.
The Students of UCC made the long journey to Ballymacarn Park on Saturday to take on the home side and UCC caught an error strewn Ballynahinch on the hop.
The visitors opened up a 12-0 lead, with flanker Cathal Gallagher and full-back Chris McAuliffe both crossing the whitewash on 13 and 24 minutes respectively.
Goal-kicking winger O’Keeffe added one conversion which was cancelled out by ‘Hinch full-back Chris Quinn’s 27th-minute penalty, the home side struggling to secure quick ball against UCC’s supremely committed defence.
No matter what the County Down side tried, the students were able to stymie and with the referee penalising the home side for every infringement, Coach Derek Suffern’s charges simply had no answer. Although the Hinch scrum seemed to be dominating the visitors, ‘old school’ strikes against the head by UCC hooker Ben Burns lost Hinch possession on several occasions.
Winger Chris Orr, getting his first AIL start, was notable with his penetrating runs when in possession, but the finishing of passes across the home side left a lot to be desired.
HT: Ballynahinch 3 UCC 12
The visitors’ infectious work-rate on both sides of the ball continued to frustrate Hinch, with O’Keeffe drilling over his one and only penalty goal to restore the 12-point advantage, again as a result of an error-strewn start to the Second Half.
The extra points from O’Keefe seemed to finally motivate the home side and through an extended period of good quality pressure, Hinch built for a big final push.
After some excellent work in the midfield from the ever strong running and stand-out centre Stuart Morrow, followed up by excellent work from John Donnan, saw Hinch within sight of the students’ line. Interference with the play saw the UCC Captain Kevin Slater sent to the bin for 10 mins and a series of strong scrums saw Hinch rightly awarded a 73rd minute penalty try, converted by Quinn, getting them back within striking distance.
The home side now piled on the pressure to an ever tiring student team, but with due respect to the visitors, who had been more motivated throughout the match, UCC stood firm in a breathless finish to give themselves a massive boost ahead of their November 25 derby clash with Dolphin.
Ballynahinch have a lot of lessons to learn from this match and the error and penalty count will be one aspect of the game that needs to be looked at ahead of a difficult First Trust Senior Cup Semi-Final match at Rifle Park against a buoyant Banbridge on Sat 19th November.
Looking further ahead to a big weekend at Ballymacarn Park on 26th November, as Ballynahinch welcome Ballymena for the local derby UBL clash, as well as Hinch 2s taking on Portadown in the Millar McCall Wylie Junior Cup Semi Final.
***
BALLYNAHINCH: Chris Quinn; Callum McLaughlin, Stuart Morrow, Davy Nicholson, Chris Orr; James McBriar, Chris Gibson; Jonny Blair, Jonny Murphy, Craig Trenier, John Donnan, Michael Graham (Capt), Callum Irvine, Lorcan Dow, Gareth Gill.
Replacements: Stuart Orr, Joe Roe, James Simpson, Conor Phillips, Jordan Grattan.
UCC: Chris McAuliffe; Kevin O’Keeffe, Kevin Slater (Capt), Murray Linn, James Kiernan; Tom Kiersey, Richard Walsh; Shane O’Hanlon, Ben Burns, Rob O’Donovan, Darragh Moloney, Ben Mitchell, Conor Barry, Cathal Gallagher, Richie Moran.
Replacements: Charlie Slowey, Ciaran McHugh, Graham Smith, Charlie O’Regan, Rory Slater.
Scorers: Ballynahinch: Try: Penalty try; Con: Chris Quinn; Pen: Chris Quinn
UCC: Tries: Cathal Gallagher, Chris McAuliffe; Con: Kevin O’Keeffe; Pen: Kevin O’Keeffe.
