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Photo of the Presidents XV 2010 – by Corrine Beattie

Ballina 2XV 22 Buccaneers 3XV 18

Ballina 2XV made it into the second round of the Ard Na Cregg cup with a thrilling extra time win against Buccaneers on a beautiful sunny Sunday spring afternoon.
Buccs started well and had a try after 15 mins despite some good Ballina defending.  The Ballina scrum was doing well against a physically bigger Buccs pack and after a shaky first 15 minutes the line-out was churning out good possession with Stephen Dolan and Gary Langdon securing their own ball and stealing a few Buccaneers throws aswell thanks to some excellent lifting.  Alan Jennings at 9 was spreading the ball well but also put in some awesome tackles, usually on the aforementioned bigger Buccs forwards.  Ballina pressed the Buccs defence hard and were unlucky to not score and it stayed 5-0 until half time.

Buccaneers went 12-0 ahead with an intercept try after 5 mins of the second half.  This was severe blow for Ballina and they could have allowed their heads to drop but they got stuck in to the job they had to do and played most of the rest of the half in the Buccs 22.  Russell O’Brien crashed over for the first try, then when Buccs had a man in the bin Ballina pressed home their advantage.  After a series of penalties close to the line, the final carry, again by O’Brien, was a fraction of an inch short but was awarded as a penalty try.  12-12 with 7 minutes to go made for a dramatic last few minutes but it finished all square.

Ballina had all the momentum going into the 2 halves of 10 minutes extra time but it was Buccs that struck first with a penalty to make it 12-15.  However the Ballina backline continued to do well with David Brunker, Charlie Flynn and Patrick Crowe putting together some excellent play and pressuring the Buccs back 3 into mistakes which led to Ballina’s 3rd try to make it 17-15.  But the Buccaneers refused to roll over and regained the lead in the second period of extra time with a successful long range penalty to lead 17-18.  Far from loosing their composure Ballina kept plugging away and exploiting the spaces and with 90 seconds left on the clock the ball came out the line to Mervyn Kneafsey, playing at outside centre, having started at open-side.  He drew the cover and passed to Craig Culkin (he started at inside centre and finished on the wing) who had a lot of work to do to get past the 3 defenders that met him in the corner.  A quick shimmy and a step back inside saw him through to score the winner, 22-18 to the delight of the Ballina players and supporters.

It is difficult to pick out any individual for a “man of the match” accolade.  This was above all a performance where the whole Ballina Seconds team of 20 players performed with outstanding courage and ability for an amazing 100 minutes of rugby.
They look forward now to the Quarter-final against Loughrea on 11/4/10 in Ballina.  Put it in your diary and come along to see the next installment in the saga.  It will be worth it.

Ballina team:- Leo Troy, John Keaveney, Russell O’Brien, Ronan Hennigan, Donal Gilvarry, Gary Langdon, Mervyn Kneafsey, Stephen Dolan, Alan Jennings, Stephen Lacken, Philip Thornton, Craig Culkin, David Brunker, Michael Wilson, Patrick Crowe, Frank O’Meara, Brian Dunleavy, Charlie Flynn, Henry Hewson, John Clarke

Photos by Corinne Beattie

Ballina 1st XV finished off their 09-10 league campaign with victory over local rivals Westport 20 points to 13. Next up is the Cawley Cup away to Gort Rfc on the 28th of March.

Pictures by Corinne Beattie

Sundays Results: Castlebar 17, Ballinrobe 12; Tuam 21, OLBC 8; Monivea 32, Sligo 21; Galwegians 12, Buccaneers 12; Ballina 20, Westport 13.

Final League Table 09-10

League winners: Monivea

All Ireland Junior Cup Qualifiers: Monivea, Sligo, Ballina, Corrib

Relegation Play off: Ballinrobe or OLBC

Relegated: Buccaneers