Senior rugby has been restructured to ease fixture congestion with the Ulster League and Senior Cup combined into one competition with a showpiece final at Ravenhill during the festive period. The top eight senior teams play in two groups with the group winners to play each other in the final.

Ballynahinch were drawn against Queens, Dungannon and Banbridge and the fixtures took place over the past three weekends, resulting in emphatic wins for Ballynahinch each time as they qualified easily to book a place against Instonians in the final.

They scored 22 tries without reply across the matches and handed senior debuts to a host of new signings including Alex Topping, David Braden, Ryan Halpin, Jon Rodgers and Michael McCavery at Rifle Park on Saturday.