Rainey beaten in club last four

19 October 2016

RAINEY Old Boys made the journey through torrential rain and wind to a wet Ballymacarn Park on Saturday for their First Trust Senior Cup quarter-final.

Rainey have had a fantastic start to their All-Ireland Division 2C season, winning four from four matches with try bonuses in each of their fixtures, so Derek Suffern knew that they would test his players’ mettle, particularly with his resources stretched at the eternal behest of the professional game set-up.

In what was a scrappy match throughout, but played at full pace for the 80 minutes, Rainey clearly came to lay down a marker that they would be no respecters of the four division difference between the Clubs.

With only Craig Trenier released by the professional set-up, Ballynahinch had to call on several players from the second XV squad to fill in for missing or injured players.

The swift Chris Orr was given a starting place on the wing and Stewart Evans’ services were once again called upon to cover in the second row for the injured James Simpson.

Rainey have a sizeable if young pack and they pressured the home side from early on, forcing two penalties in the seventh and 16th minutes, which were converted by Scott McLean to give the visitors an early 6-0 lead.

‘Hinch soon found their flow and upped the work rate in the tight eight towards the end of the half and on 27minutes a rolling maul after several phases of ball carrying,saw Brian Howard dot down for the first try of the match. Justin Rea missed the extras.

Rainey did not rest on their laurels and attacked well into the ‘Hinch 22. After a few phases on the ground, the ball was worked wide for Jody McMurray to dot down in the corner, with McLean missing the extras.

‘Hinch came out of the blocks with huge intent at the start of the second half and the pressure from the Hinch forwards was clearly starting to tell on Rainey’s young pack.

On 42 minutes, after several warnings, Rainey second row John McCusker — one of three brothers in the pack — saw yellow for repeated infringements.

This was followed two minutes later with a penalty try being awarded to the home side as they dominated in the loose and particularly at the set piece. Rea added the extras and the hosts had a 12-11 lead.

The visitors were clearly struggling without their talisman lock and on 47 minutes Rainey again saw yellow as young scrum half Andrew Donaghy did the walk of shame for interfering with play, leaving the visitors down to 13 men.

Hinch’s good fitness levels were starting to show as they were able to keep the momentum going minto the final quarter of the game, but credit to Rainey as they never stopped defending.

Referee Chris Busby was back on the whistle again on 65 minutes and Rainey lock John McCusker saw a second yellow and immediate red card for interfering with play in the loose. Rea slotted the resultant penalty to stretch the home side’s lead to 15-11.

Fourteen-man Rainey applied huge pressure in the final 10 minutes in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the match, but the mature heads of Ballynahinch defended the onslaught and forced the visitors to continue to give away penalties through ill-discipline.

Some big performances were shown from Ben Pentland, Keith Dickson and Brian Howard in the loose and solid tackling from Jordan Grattan and Davy Nicholson saved the day on several occasions.

Craig Trenier, ex-Rainey player Joe Roe and young Jonny Blair gave a master class in scrummaging and club stalwart Kenny Morton at lock proved his worth. The half-back connection of Chris Gibson and Ross Carlisle, both had excellent performances and Chris Orr was notable in this testing match.

The final say of the match was to go to the home side as, again, Rainey ill-discipline resulted in a penalty for a desperate and wayward high tackle. James McBriar deftly kicked the ball into touch on the five-metre line and the resulting line-out saw replacement lock Andy Simpson win a clean catch and the Hinch forwards successfully mauled to the line for Craig Trenier to dot down.

Overall, an untidy but successful performance against a capable, if very young Rainey side. Ballynahinch now play County Down neighbours Banbridge at Rifle Park in the semi-finals on or before November 19.

Ballynahinch 20

Rainey OB 11

FIRST TRUST SENIOR CUP

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