Smashing Plate display sees Ballina end season on high
Inside the joyful Ballina team huddle as they celebrate in song after the game.
For 15 minutes, Ballyhaunis did absolutely everything right, but for the following 25, Ballina were utterly irresistible, so that for the final 40, there was little or no doubt about which of these two clubs would pick up the Connacht Junior Plate to round off their season.
Since their shock defeat to Tuam back in January, Ballina looked on paper to be the class act of the field in the Junior Plate, and after they edged out Connemara (37-35) in a ten-try quarter-final, most expected them to cruise to glory in this competition.
But for a quarter of an hour on Easter Monday, Ballyhaunis gave their supporters something to shout about, the fans of the East Mayo club matched their players’ energy, and Ballina might well have wondered if their underwhelming record in knockout rugby was set to have another chapter added to the story.
The performance that the North Mayo side delivered between then and half-time illustrated exactly why they are so highly-rated as they produced a clinical and scintillating performance on the fast astroturf surface, turning a 0-11 deficit into an almost insurmountable 29-11 half-time lead.
It was insurmountable because it was Ballyhaunis that had the wind at their backs in the first-half, a wind that they exploited particularly well with Scott Finlay landing two 50:22 kicks to give them strong attacking platforms, and in the absence of that kicking option, Ballyhaunis’ rumbling, forward-based game was always going to struggle to rack up sufficient scores.
Add in the ongoing threat posed by a razor-sharp Ballina back division, and there was only one way this game was going to end.
But as for the beginning – what a start it was, with Ballyhaunis showing no traces of fear or conservatism in the face of their talented opponents. Patrick Egan and Barry McLoughlin made some strong carries to get them going, Finlay’s kicking was impeccable, and it fell to William Ganley to break a tackle and crash over the line for the first try in the fifth minute.
Fintan Crawley’s 50 metre burst set up another three from a Finlay penalty, fully ten minutes passed before Ballina managed to put a handful of phases of possession together, and another penalty extended the lead out to 11.
That was the cue for Ballina to produce their best rugby of the season. Calum Quinn’s direct running from the centre was the key to so much of their best play and while his first break was well-stalled by Michael Jordan in open space, the breakthrough wasn’t long in coming.
They started to pick holes in the Ballyhaunis defence and every line break looked like a try waiting to happen.
One such incision left Ballyhaunis stretched and a delightful skip pass from Craig McCormick to Paul Brennan enabled the full-back to scamper over.
The underdogs were working hard in the tight exchanges, disrupting Ballina lineouts and dominating the scrums, but once Ballina got the ball moving, they seemed to create space over and over.
Ronan Molloy and Thomas Hannigan set up Ian West in the left corner, the winger added his second try when he skipped past a tackle and gave McCormick another nightmare-ish touchline conversion, and whatever hope Ballyhaunis might have had was extinguished in a devastating few minutes before half-time.
First, the value of the break of the ball was shown when Finlay hoisted up a long clearance that was allowed to bounce, Paul Brennan caught it on the second hop with two Ballyhaunis players converging, but through his pace and his elusiveness, he turned a precarious situation into an attack, from which soft hands from Daniel Feeney, Billy McVann and Quinn left Ben Matheson with a simple finish.
The half-time whistle sounded with Ballina pressing again and the score still at 22-11, but with the players just about to head to the dressing-rooms, referee David Andreu spoke to his touch judge and went back for a Ballina penalty, also issuing a yellow card to James Frayne.
Now up against 14, Luke Sweeney drove across the line after two phases, McCormack tapped over the one simple conversion he had all day, and the score was 29-11.
Jack Deegan and Fintan Crawley were involved as Ballyhaunis got the ideal start to the second-half, barreling over through Baarry McLoughlin with still just 14 men on the field, but the seeds of a revival never got the chance to germinate.
A wonderful break down the left wing opened things up for Quinn to set up West’s hat-trick try, and while Ballyhaunis did get the next score through some great work from William Cunnane and a clinical Seán Griffin finish, Ballina were able to ease their way over the finish line, bringing their try tally to eight through scores from Daniel Feeney and Brian Donoghue.
It wasn’t the league or cup victory that they craved, or that looked to be well-within their grasp after a scintillating first half of the season, but it was a win that should restore Ballina’s positive momentum, giving them some silverware to build on in advance of what already looks like a critical 2026/27 season for the club.
Ballina: Paul Brennan; Ian West, Calum Quinn, Ronan Molloy, Daniel Feeney; Craig McCormick, Ben Matheson; Seán O’Connell, Billy McVann, Gary Kavanagh; Conor Boyce, Thomas Hannigan; Mark O’Dowd, Dylan Rice, Luke Sweeney. Replacements: Danny Donegan (for Kavanagh 21-30), Donegan (for Kavanagh 43), Alan Duffy (for O’Dowd 43), Brian Donohoe (for Rice 51), Michael Caden (for West 66), Gerard McKenna (for Matheson 67), Brian Heffernan (for Hannigan 73), Oisín Smyth Rouse (for McCormick 73), Liam Masterson (for O‘Connell 73), Rice (for Sweeney 78).
Ballyhaunis: Luke Walsh; James Frayne, William Cunnane, William Ganley, Seán Griffin; Scott Finlay, Rowan Gouws; Aidan Healy, Jason Morley, Seán Óg Frayne; Patrick Egan, Barry McLoughlin; Michael Jordan, James Doyle, Fintan Crawley. Replacements: Hedd Morgan (for Healy 9-18), Jack Deegan (for Gouws 40), Lui Holohan (for Egan ht), David Lilly (for S Óg Frayne 46), Daniel Hill (for J Frayne 46), Michael Macken (for McLoughlin 57), J Frayne (for Ganley 62), Pádraic Carney (for Healy 75), Clayton Nolan (for Walsh 75).
REF: David Andreu
