AIL Division 1A
Terenure 52 Ballynahinch 22
By James Kirk
IT was a day to forget for Ballynahinch at Lakelands Park as they shipped 50 points against Terenure on Saturday for the second time this season.
The home side dispensed with their high-profile coach Carlos Spencer earlier in the week and were clearly fired up to show that they were better than their form suggested.
Adam Craig kept faith with his homegrown lineup which had recorded two comfortable home victories, with Zack McCall for the injured Reuben Crothers the only change, but plans were disrupted when John Dickson took a bang in the warmup and Matthew Burke stepped up to start in the front row.
The first half was extremely competitive on the 4G surface as the sides exchanged scores. The prolific Chris Cosgrave opened the account for the home side with a smart finish after a period of home pressure.
Ballynahinch poured forward after Terenure failed to reclaim the restart and a chip over the top from Chris Gibson on penalty advantage saw Pierce Crowe regather and force his way over to equalise.
A superb break and offload down the touchline from Leinster Development hooker Max Russell set up winger Eddie Kelly for a superb try.
Ballynahinch fought back immediately.
A surge into the opposition 22 was rewarded with a penalty from Conor Rankin and they took the lead when a superb turnover on halfway saw a quick ball fed to Aaron Sexton who burned his man on the outside and linked with Paul Kerr for the score.
The home side replied straight away with a soft score from the influential Aaron Egan following a missed tackle and when they scored again just five minutes later to secure a bonus point on the half hour mark, Ballynahinch had to stem the bleeding and get through to half-time.
To their credit, they battled to the interval and should probably have scored another try following a series of phases in the opposition 22.
The first score after half-time was always going to be crucial and when Terenure increased their lead with a breakaway try to lead by 17 points, they looked comfortable.
Highly rated Leinster starlet Caspar Gabriel was now winning everything in the air for the home side and they punished a strangely passive Ballynahinch with a try from close range, following a maul and another try in the wide channels from Kelly.
Terenure continued to smash into their tackles and Ballynahinch struggled to make ground when they attacked, but a piece of magic from AIL centurion Bradley Luney up the blind side from a scrum on half way saw him break the line and put Chris Gibson away.
The scrum half had plenty to do but finished well in the corner to give Ballynahinch a chance to go for a bonus point.
However, Terenure had the last word with another soft try and with results around the league going the wrong way, Ballynahinch find themselves in eighth place going into the final four games of the season.
Cork Constitution are the visitors next weekend.
All support welcome.
