After last week’s brilliant win in Cork, one of the Con coaches observed that if a team is anything less than 100% on their game in this league then they will be found out. Ballynahinch fell into that category on Saturday when a less than accurate performance in attack and defence was ruthlessly exploited.

Adam Craig picked an almost identical team, the only change being John Dickson starting at prop. However the unexpected appearance of rising Leinster duo Fintan Gunne and Caspar Gabriel at nine and ten on the Terenure teamsheet was crucial and they duly ran the show. Gabriel was outstanding and at just twenty years old has surely got a big future in the game.

Ballynahinch were chasing the game from the outset, conceding two early tries to trail by twelve points but they steadied the ship and a maul try from Tom McCallister gave them a foothold which should have been more as they laid siege to the Terenure line only to be denied by a combination of close refereeing calls, stout defence and their own inaccuracy.

Frustrated, a yellow card for a late hit on Gabriel just before the break proved crucial and the Dublin side pulled away after the restart, scoring four tries in fifteen minutes to put the game to bed. To their credit the home side battled back to dominate long periods of the final quarter but could not find the cutting edge shown so far this season and Terenure scored two late tries to give the scoreboard a lopsided look despite home backrower Jon Rodgers’ first AIL try.

Club Notes

Davy Harris saw his second XV cement their position at the top of the league with a 66-0 annihilation of Banbridge. There are bigger battles to come with second place Ballymena up next but they continue to set the standard at second XV level.

It was a tough afternoon for the thirds versus a strong Portadown seconds team but a Forster Cup victory at Ards for the fourths and a big win for the fifths left the club in credit.

All boys youth matches fell foul of the weather but there were encouraging performances for the fledgling youth girls teams despite defeat on Sunday.