Sligo u-13s made it two league wins from two matches when they defeated a strong Ballina side at Strandhill on Sunday by 31-12. Sligo won the toss and elected to play against the strong wind in the first half. Ballina quickly turned this to their advantage and with 5 minutes gone on the clock some fine running by their backline saw them touch down under the posts for the opening score. A successful conversion put the score at 7-0 to the Mayo outfit. However Sligo’s reply was swift. Some fine driving play from Evan McGrath put Sligo deep into the Ballina scoring zone. A series of lineouts ensued with the towering Edward Burke securing possession for his forwards to drive into the Ballina defence. The ball was transferred to Conan O Donnell who powered over for a well taken team score.
Ballina scored their second try after twenty minutes when some good work by their pack set up a platform for their strong running No 8 to make a great charge to the Sligo line to reclaim the seven point lead for his team. Sligo were not finished for the half though and completed the first half scoring with only two minutes left before the interval when out half Stephen Kearins unlocked the Ballina defence and set up centre Mark Gerrity, brother of Sligo senior star David, for a well taken score. The half time whistle followed the unsuccessful conversion attempt with a score line of 10-12 in favour of the visitors.
Sligo started the second half with the gale force wind behind them and a determination to rack up some much needed scores and it was not long before they set up camp in the Ballina half. Great work by the pack particularly by Sean Hurley and Matthew Cosgrove put pressure on the Ballina defence and this hard work was rewarded when the superb Evan McGrath broke away and dotted down under the posts. Mark Gerrity was successful with the conversion.
The next score came through the backline and was taken with a style fit to grace any arena. A well timed pass from the elusive Niall Connolly put speedster Conor Patton into space. The Ballina defence scrambled and looked to have closed down the winger’s space. However Patton had other ideas and great footwork in very limited space saw him outpace all the tacklers and make his way to the tryline. Gerrity added the extras to give the home team a commanding lead. Sligo completed the scoring with 5 minutes on the clock when powerhouse Conan O’Donnell burst his way through the green defence to add to his earlier try. Gerrity again added the conversion for a comprehensive Sligo win by 31-12.
Along with those already mentioned Sligo were well served in the forwards by Tristan Probst, Conor Greene, Rory Molloy and Aaron Cawley and in the Backline by Ronan Redmond, Ferdia Brown, Darran Harte and Stephen Knowles. A special mention must be made for Diarmuid Mulligan and Conor McGoldrick who featured in both the pack and the backs.
Sligo: Ferdia Browne, Conor McGoldrick ,Niall Connolly , Mark Gerrity, Darran Harte, Stephen Kearins, Ronan Redmond, Conan O’Donnell, Matthew Cosgrove, Tristan Probst, Aaron Cawley, Conor Greene, Diarmuid Mulligan, Edward Burke, Stephen Knowles, Evan Mc Grath, Conor Patton, Rory Mollloy.