Instonians U18 5 Ballynahinch U18 35

Colin Donaldson reports

Ballynahinch U18 continued their unbeaten start to the season with an excellent win over Instonians at Shaw’s Bridge. They blasted out of the blocks with two early tries and never looked back. Jackson Buchanan opened their account with a set play, running on to a superb pass from Sam Hoey. Buchanan was involved in the second score as he latched on to a superbly judged kick from Joshua Woods give his team field position. The forwards did the rest with hooker Ryan McMullan carrying towards the line and the ever-alert Callum McCargo driving over the line from close range. Despite several opportunities to increase their lead the rest of the half was scoreless.

Instonians got themselves on the scoreboard with a close-range score from a tap penalty early in the second half and this galvanised the Ballynahinch boys into action. Jack Patterson powered his way over to extend their lead before McCargo added his second to put the result beyond doubt. A great lineout steal then lead to McMullan adding a fifth try. Woods was faultless from the tee throughout and Hoey pulled the strings with a player of the match display as Ballynahinch put in a fine all-round performance to cement their position at the top of their league section. Next up is a home fixture vs Carrick before the long trip to Strabane.