Ballynahinch 31 Cork Constitution 14

James Kirk reports

Ballynahinch produced a superb performance against league kingpins Cork Constitution to move off the bottom of the Division 1A table. Mike McKeever picked an unchanged starting fifteen and was rewarded with a bonus point victory. Cork Con had as many as five Munster contracted players on the field but had no answer to the intensity and physicality of the Ballynahinch side in both attack and defence.

The rapid Aaron Sexton opened the scoring in the first five minutes as he latched on to a superbly judged kick from Mark Best to score. Ballynahinch were by a distance the better side throughout the rest of the half but failed to extend their lead until skipper Claytan Milligan finished off a driving maul just before the break. When he scored again from another dominant maul just three minutes into the second half it looked like the home side were well on their way to a resounding victory.

Con had other ideas and exploited a few jitters from Ballynahinch with a strong fifteen-minute spell around the hour mark during which they scored two tries. A superb penalty from the reliable boot of Conor Rankin steadied the ship and Ballynahinch finished strongly. They kicked intelligently to manage territory and were rewarded with a bonus point try in the final seconds when they capitalised on an opposition knock-on to fire the ball wide to Sexton who torched the cover and raced over the line, much to the delight of the home crowd.

The players have a well-earned break before the next block of fixtures begins with a daunting trip to Terenure. McKeever will be hoping to have a few injured players back on board in the run-up to the Christmas break.