{"id":2250,"date":"2014-09-15T20:04:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T19:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/?p=2250"},"modified":"2014-09-15T20:04:22","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T19:04:22","slug":"ballinasloe-rfc-xv-11-v-westport-rfc-xv-9-report-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/ballinasloe-rfc-xv-11-v-westport-rfc-xv-9-report-live\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballinasloe RFC I XV 11 v Westport RFC I XV 9 REPORT LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ballinasloe<\/a><\/p>\n

BALLINASLOE SURVIVE\u00a0BALLINASLOE 11—- 9 WESTPORT<\/strong>
\nIt was yet another late late show performance from Ballinasloe in this tense Junior1A league encounter at Graigueawoneen on Sunday. Last week-end they had victory denied them with a last second converted try in Ballina. This time they were the beneficiaries of those smiling gods as Westport fluffed two kickable penalties deep into time added on. The local\u2019s survival gave further credence to the old saying that \u201clightning never strikes twice\u201d. Their supporters gave a huge sigh of relief at the final whistle having witnessed at first hand their side\u2019s penchant for last minute drama.
\nThere was little enough to choose between two fairly even matched sides. Westport had the stronger scrum and at times had more structure to their game while Ballinasloe were brave in defence and had the facility to make inroads, at times, deep into Westport territory. Indeed had the local\u2019s better control of their own ball they would have more than 11pts to show for their afternoon\u2019s endeavours.
\nSean Tobin kicked the visitors ahead in the sixth minute with a close in penalty. There followed a period of Ballinasloe supremacy as they put in a serious shift close to the Westport line and the visitors had a forward yellow carded for implementing his own interpretation of the scrum rules. Keelan O\u2019Neill equalised in the 17th minute before the burrowing John Hayes got over for a Ballinasloe try after twenty three minutes. The conversion did not increase the score. The locals should have made more of their possession at this stage but Conor Hastings and his pack did well to keep them at bay. Ballinasloe\u2019s Cian Loughrey was unfortunate to see yellow for not rolling away after the tackle as he seemed to be held in and with a player advantage, Tobin kicked his second penalty just before the break to leave the score 8-6 as the players trooped off at the break.
\nBallinasloe were as willing as ever as the second period unfolded but protection of their own ball was proving a hazard for them and all too often they coughed up cheap ball to their opponents. In time, frustration would creep into their game and they would start conceding needless penalties.
\nOne searing run from Andrew Mannion saw the locals bring play to within five metres of their opponent\u2019s line and when the visitors were pinged for off side O\u2019Neill extracted the maximum from their infringement and there were six pts between the sides after fifty seven minutes. Westport always posed a threat and Cian Loughrey put in a big hit on the strong running Kevin Corcoran as he made tracks up through the middle. Tobin made it a one score game with a penalty as the game entered the final stretch.
\nWestport were full of running and inventiveness in the closing stages. It was really all shoulders to the wheel for the home side as the clock ticked down but they held firm and their \u201cthou shalt pass\u201d approach stood them in good stead. And then there were those two heart stopping penalty misses. Ah well!! The locals did deserve a smidgen of good fortune,didn\u2019t they? BALLINASLOE TEAM: A.Mannion, D.Burke, C.Johnston, R.Cullinan, Cian Loughrey, K.O\u2019Neill, Conor Loughrey, K.Gavin, A.O\u2019Hara, T.Dolan, N.Staunton, K.Headd, A.Loughrey, J.Hayes, R.Wakefield. Replacements: J.J.Carey, A.McGrath, H.Reynolds, M.Tierney, D.Freeman.
\nBallinasloe\u2019s Development Squad were also in action on Sunday when they took on their south Galway rivals, Portumna, in a friendly following the senior action. After close opening exchanges the locals got some structure into their game before going on to win. Manager, Danny Maguire, and coach, Der Tierney (Snr.) will be pleased that their season got off to a winning start. Liam Courtney, Club PRO.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BALLINASLOE SURVIVE\u00a0BALLINASLOE 11—- 9 WESTPORT It was yet another late late show performance from Ballinasloe in this tense Junior1A league encounter at Graigueawoneen on Sunday. Last week-end they had victory denied them with a last second converted try in Ballina. This time they were the beneficiaries of those smiling gods as Westport fluffed two kickable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1836],"tags":[871,2442,989,15,2443,990],"class_list":["post-2250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","tag-871","tag-ballinasloe","tag-i","tag-rfc","tag-westport","tag-xv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2251,"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions\/2251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intouchrugby.com\/connacht\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}