Sligo RFC 41 :: Ballina 7
Sligo under 14 took to the field on Sunday against Ballina in their 3rd league match this season. The opening fifteen minutes of the game saw the possession swing from side to side with no points on the board for either side. A penalty from Evan Mc Grath from a difficult angle slipped away from the posts not helped by a strong breeze that made conditions tough on a very sticky pitch. The kick off from Ballina gladly landed in the hands of Ryan Bright which was worked through the oppositions defence and finished off in a well deserved try by Sligo’s captain Darren Byrne. Evan Mc Grath converted to give Sligo lads the boost that was badly needed to get their confidence back in the game. Heads were up and try’s came rolling in from Daniel Ford, which was well back up by superb rucking from the four power houses Jake Sexton, Ryan Bright, Elyassa Hamza, and Conan O’Donnell.
Ballina failed to put the ball straight into two line outs which suited the Sligo front row of Jason Greer Conan O Donnell Diarmuid Hough who guided the pack in a strong drive giving Ronan Redmond space to give some fast ball out to the wing. The opposition were on a strong run in the dying minutes of the first half but some strong tackles from Diarmuid Mulligan and Darren Harte kept the score at 19 -0. Sligo kicked of the second half with even more fire in their bellies hitting Ballina with every thing they got as Evan Mc Grath ran in a try as a result of great ball work from Jack Keegan and Stephen Kearns. Jake Sexton took a well deserved break giving Sean Hurley the baton and the second row was very unlucky not to reach Ballina’s try line on his introduction to the game. Sligo took the ball to opposition’s line and were stopped short by a strong defence but they steadied the pack to control a well executed try by Ronan Redmond from the back of the ruck. James Hansom, Anthony McGwynne came on for Conor Herrity
and Elyassa Hamza who gave a great contribution through the game.
As further scores were added by Conan O Donnell and converted by the ever reliable Evan Mc Grath the game was truly put well out of reach for Ballina. The strength of Sligo squad saw Stephen Knowles, Luke Morrison, Cain Cassidy and a very welcome new comer Keelan Grehan take to the field again piling more pressure on a much tiered opposition. Ballina got try in the last dying minutes to end the game in a final score 41 points to 7 in favour of a very strong Sligo team. You could hand out many man of the match awards to these lads and as a games goes it was an excellent result from a much focused team. It also great to see the injured Matthew Cosgrove getting back his fitness with great runs on to the pitch with water and the rugby tee. Again well done to all.
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