City of Derry moved took full advantage of an earlier defeat of Omagh by Queens to move into second place in the Deloitte Premiership following a 5 – 56 win at Ballynahinch on Saturday evening.

A strong Derry side took full advantage of a rebuilding Ballynahinch with Claire McGill and Donna Redmond crossing early to give the visitors a 10 point lead. Ciara Moore pushed the score along to 0 – 17 after picking up a loose ball out wide to circle round under the posts to make her own conversion fairly straight forward.

Hinch started to get their act together and the spent the bulk of the second quarter putting pressure on the Derry line but a power packed break out by Stacey Sloan and strong running from Megan Deery pushed the score along to 0 – 27 before the home team got some reward for their much improved second quarter with a try before the break.

Sloan and Derry crossed again at the start of the second half before Sloan marked her return in some style with her hat-trick towards the end of the third quarter. The powerful Ulster centre was a handful throughout the game and it’s great to see her back on the pitch after a long period of injury.

Hard working winger, Amelia McFarland, got some reward for her efforts throughout the game with a score for Derry towards the end before Ciara Moore wrapped it up with her second try, to add to three conversions, to give a final score of Ballynahinch 5 City of Derry 56.

While Derry were worthy winners, Hinch can feel a little aggrieved that they didn’t get a few more points on the scoreboard considering their contribution to the game.

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