We were down at Ballymacarn Park twice this weekend. Our first match featured the senior men who entertained Garryowen in and All Ireland League 1A clash.

It was a scrappy game for the cream of club rugby in Ireland, both sides completely losing their way against a stiff, but not overly strong, wind which was blowing down the pitch towards the clubhouse. Or perhaps it was the strong sunlight, in the same direction, that caused a multitude of errors in this game.

Garryowen kicked off with the wind and the sun at their backs and the rushed into a 10 – 0 leading the first 10 minutes following a try from hooker Pat O’Toole, from an early line out drive, and a couple of good long range kicks from out half Tony Butler who knocked over the conversion from out wide before landing a monster penalty minutes later.

Hinch struggled for most of the first half, a succession of poor passes preventing them getting the ball out wide and Garryowen didn’t need to do much to keep the scoreboard ticking over with kicks to the corner yielding points as wing forward Jack Daly went over at the start of the second quarter after a couple of attempts at the line, Butler adding the extras to give the visitors a 17 point lead.

Hinch did make some ground through breaks from Marcus Rea and Zack McCall but they never really found the continuity for a good old rumble up the middle and Garryowen added another seven in the closing minute of the half with O’Toole mauling over for his second, Butler converting to give a score of 0 – 22 to Garryowen as the teams changed ends.

With the wind and the sun at their backs the home side were a completely different prospect in the second half, which started in a flurry of points.

The hardworking Rea was the first to cross after an early lineout maul and, with Greg Hutley adding the extras, the chase was on. Crucially, Garryowen were able to reply with a penalty, from the ever reliable Butler, which kept the visitors over two score clear at 7 – 27.

However Hinch were back on track a minute later with James Simpson finding the line from the restart and with Hutley adding the extras the score had moved to 14 – 27 in a matter of minutes.

Things stagnated for a period but Hinch gave themselves a real chance when Aaron Cairns crossed out wide towards the end of the third quarter. The try went unconverted leaving Hinch still needing 2 scores for the win with the scoreboard reading 19 – 27 in Garryowen’s favour.

With both sides chasing a try bonus, to add to a likely win, I expected an exciting last 20, but it never really got going. Hinch did work three pretty good chances but were unable to finish them off and they had to settle for a losing bonus point following a penalty from Jack Milligan with the last kick of the game.

Final score: Ballynahinch 22 Garryowen 27

Ballynahinch: Shane Ball, Patrick Wright, Ryan Wilson, Rory Butler, Aaron Cairns, Gregory Hutley, Chris Gibson, Harry Simpson, Tom Stewart, Peter Cooper, Thomas Donnan, John Donnan, Zack McCall, Reuben Crothers, Marcus Rea. Replacements: John Dickson, Diego Vidal Souza, James Simpson, Tagen Strydom, Conor McAuley, Jack Milligan, 

Garryowen: Jamie Heuston, Colm Quilligan, Bryan Fitzgerald, Jack Delaney, Jamie Shanahan, Tony Butler, Edmond Barry, Mark Donnelly, Pat O’Toole, Darragh McCarthy, Paddy Kelly, Kevin Seymour, Tim Ferguson, Jack Daly, Sean Rennison. Replacements: Dylan Murphy, Niall Horan, Roy Whelan, Aaron Cosgrove, Tommy O’Hora, Jack Madden 

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