After the disappointment of having last weekend’s first league match of the season against Creggs cancelled, the Sligo U14’s and their coaches were eager to get some match action under their belts. From the kick off Sligo displayed strength in their forwards and speed from their backs. Ballina were forced to defend vigorously from the outset, but it soon became obvious that both sides were still feeling their way into a match situation.
Sligo gained the upper hand with most of the play taking place in Ballina’s half. Sligo’s forwards were fierce in the ruck and fast ball was moving along the back-line towards the wingers. Tackling on both sides was equally fierce and no holds were barred either in or around the break down, and it was following another fierce ruck that Daragh Burke received a back injury and had to leave the field. Sligo were a bit short in experienced backs amongst the panel present, so Fabian Zawada was brought on to replace Matt Davey at Prop, with Matt moving to Loose Forward and releasing Gabriel Knecht to replace Daragh on the wing. Sligo re-grouped and began to force Ballina onto the back foot. Consistent driving by the forwards and fast hands in the backline resulted in the ball being carried towards the Ballina try-line, where after several phases Fabian Zawada combined with Matt Davey to drive the ball over for Sligo’s first try of the day. After a failed conversion and the restart, Sligo went back for some more and Jack Selby eventually burst through some weak tackling to score their second.
Sligo appeared to have begun to remember what the coaches had told them to do, and almost before the spectators had finished talking, fast ball from a ruck was spun out to Patrick McGloin, who left the Ballina defence for dead to score his first ever try for Sligo in the right corner. This was a text-book move by Sligo and Ballina were beginning to look at ruffled. Sligo’s forwards took up the challenge yet again, as they rucked, recycled ball, picked and drove, finally freeing James O’Hehir within the Ballina 22 to storm through to the try-line. The first half ended as Sligo again failed to convert the try, leaving the half-time score at Ballina 0 Sligo 20.
Sligo kicked off for the second half, and it wasn’t long before their confidence had obviously risen, as a deft cross-field chip by Sean Finnegan over the approaching Ballina defence resulted in Patrick McGloin picking up the ball from his toes at pace, and spinning it out to Eoin Kilroy-Talbot, who cut back in from the touchline to score between the posts. At least this time there could be no excuse for not making the conversion. The score now stood at Ballina 0 Sligo 27 and the coaches replaced Cian Mulligan, who had picked up a nasty knock earlier in the match at Scrum Half. This required a further re-jigging of the back-line, with Eddie Weaver replacing Cian, Jack Selby moving out to the wing, Eoin Kilroy-Talbot moving to centre, and Shane dropping in at full-back. Within less than two minutes, Eoin was back under the Ballina posts again, having burst through weak tackling in the middle of the field to put the ball down inches from where he last scored.
The final substitution was made almost immediately as the ball disappeared over the crossbar and Stephen Martyn was on the pitch as hooker to give Killian Filan a well deserved rest. From the restart Sligo continued to drive forwards and after a couple of phases Sean Finnegan jinked his way into the far right corner for Sligo’s seventh and final try.The entire panel had now had game time, and, apart from the recent replacements, the players were beginning to look tired. Unfortunately, so did their discipline and the quality of their tackling, and, following a couple of needless penalties against Sligo for not releasing in the ruck, Ballina sent their very experienced number 7 free to burst through a significant number of players and score between the posts. As the ball fell over the crossbar the referee blew for time. Ballina had finally got some points on the board. This left the final result Ballina 7 Sligo 39.
Whilst the result stands out (Ballina matches are more commonly a few points either way) and the general standard of play within the Sligo panel was approaching what it should be, there is still more work to be done to get certain aspects of play tightened up and more consistent throughout the progress of a match.
Panel: Aaron Donnellan. Kilian Filan, Matthew Davey, Niall O’Rourke, Jamie McGovern, Leigh Dunne, Gabriel Knecht, James O’Hehir, Fabian Zawada, Stephen Martyn Cian Mulligan, Sean Finnegan, Jack Selby, Eddie Weaver, Daragh Burke, Patrick McGloin, Eoin Kilroy-Talbot.
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