As heavy rain threatened the Hinch kicked-off playing away from the clubhouse with the advantage of a slight breeze in the first half.
Hinch took the lead in the 2nd minute thanks to a Ryan Bambry penalty goal after Jonny Cullen was taken out off the ball. Clonakilty hit back two minutes later when their Tongan outhalf Dave Paurini converted after the Hinch were caught offside.
Paurini missed a penalty attempt in the 8th minute, then Hinch scored their first try in the 10th minute. A quick tap penalty was taken by Michael Graham and play was driven forward then flashed wide where centre Stuart Morrow ran a beautiful line to sprint in under the posts. Bambry added the extras to give the Hinch a 10-3 lead.
The second Hinch try was rather special and it came in the 15th minute. Nevin Spence made a great break up the right wing and was half tackled but managed to offload to Stuart Morrow in close support. Morrow was stopped just inside the Clon 22 but Spence was on hand to carry on the attack, and when his progress us halted 5 metres short, he off loading to prop Jerry Cronin who raced in to score behind the posts. Bambry converted to make the score 17-3.
Hinch scrum half Harry McAleese was yellow carded in the 22nd minute for deliberately slowing the ball at a ruck, but despite being down to 14 men the Hinch managed to score their third try in the 31st minute. This time James Thompson threw a wide ball to Ryan Bambry with play sweeping across the pitch. When the ball was quickly recycled Bambry timing a lovely pass to Spence a full pace, the Hinch winger took a neat line cutting the Clon defence in two and scored. Bambry hit the upright with his conversion but before the game restarted the referee yellow-carded Clonakilty centre Paul Dillon for showing decent.
The Munster men lifted their game in the final ten minutes of the first half, which were spent five metres from the Hinch line. It was a pick and drive game from the Clon men and eventually in the 5th minute of injury time, number 8 Alfie Harte crossed in the right hand corner for the visitors first try which went unconverted to leave the score at halftime Ballynahinch 22 Clonakilty 8.
Hinch claimed their bonus point try in the 42nd minute after good work by Spence down the left wing created room for James Thompson to race clear to score. Bambry added the extra two points to make the score 29-8.
At this point the big home support expected the floodgates to open but just didn’t happen. Clonakilty never gave up and made life difficult for the Hinch men for the entire second half. In the 47th minute the Hinch went down to 14 men after second row James Simpson was yellow carded after he used his hands in a ruck.
The final Hinch score came in the 70th minute when the ball was moved wide following good work by Thompson and winger Robin Harte to give Nevin Spence enough pace to attack down the wing and beat the Clonakilty cover and cross the whitewash for try number five. Bambry’s conversion attempt hit the upright to leave the final score 34-8 in the County Down men’s favour.
Three bonus points from three AIL starts for the Hinch just the start that coaches Derek Suffern and Charlie McAleese wanted but their first real test will come this Saturday when the meet their big AIL Ulster rivals Ballymena at Eaton Park. Ballymena have also had a perfect start with three bonus point victories to their credit. Coach Derek Suffern knows how important it is to win this week, and even though the Hinch have already defeated Ballymena this season at Eaton Park in the Ulster League but that result is irrelevant, it will be a completely different game this Saturday afternoon. Kick-off at Eaton Park is at 2.30pm and a big Hinch support would be much appreciated.
Ballynahinch : 15 Jonny Cullen, 14 Nevin Spence, 13 Stuart Morrow, 12 James Thompson, 11 Robin Harte, 10 Ryan Bambry, Harry McAleese, 8 Michael Graham, 7 Willie Faloon, 6 Gary Crowe, 5 Jonny Graham, 4 James Simpson, 3 Jerry Cronin, 2 Matthew Nelson, 1 Chris Stevenson.
Replacements : 16 David Drake, 17 Neil Hanna, 18 Josh Donaldson, 19 Jonny Simpson, 20 Adam Bratton.
Clonakilty : 15 Denis McCarthy, 14 Darragh Lynch, 13 Kieran Howlin, 12 Paul Dillon, 11 Noel O’Sullivan, 10 Dave Paurini, 9 Mark Purcell 8 Alfie Harte, 7 Mark Porpligia, 6 Tom Keogh, 5 Dean Landy, 4 Mike Keohane, 3 Ryan Purcell 2 Stephen Cotter, 1 Tom Ryan.
Replacements : 16 Wayne Falvey, 17 Joe Knowles, 18 Dave Lombard 19 Myles O’Riorden, 20 Aidan Rees.
