U17s face Ports in Ulster League Final
Banbridge U17s will face Portadown in the final of the Ulster U17 Ulster League Playoffs this Saturday at Lisburn RFC. The match kicks off at 12 noon and all support is welcome, so please come and cheer on a deserving team.
Bann prevail in see-saw struggle
Connemara 20 BANBRIDGE 1STs 31
Bann took another big step towards securing promotion with a hard-fought bonus point victory in Clifden on Saturday. And with a last minute try giving Cashel victory against third placed Barnhall, the Rifle Park side are now nine points clear of the chasing pack, with three matches remaining.
Bann coach Daniel Soper was well-pleased to have picked up another five pointer on the road. “It was a funny sort of game,” he said afterwards. “I never felt that we would lose, but Connemara tried to play a lot of rugby, probably more than any team we have met in the AIL this season, and their second half score was excellent.
“We struggled to play to our pattern into the wind in the first half. But we held onto the ball when we needed to and our forward power was again decisive.”
Monastery Field has proved a difficult place to pick up wins in the past, and against a resurgent Connemara side that offered physicality upfront and dangerous runners out wide this proved to be the case once more.
The lead changed hands six times during the contest until midway through the second half when two successive tries eventually gave Bann an eleven point advantage to which they clung tenaciously until the final whistle.
Banbridge had started the game on the back foot and after a period of initial pressure from the home side, eventually conceded the opening score on six minutes when Richard Bourke broke through the Bann defensive line. Sean Joyce added the conversion to put Connemara seven points ahead.
But Bann responded with two tries of their own through Adam Ervine and Andy Morrison.
Ervine’s try on 14 minutes followed a series of forward drives. Quick ruck ball was moved wide right and the winger deftly side-stepped the Connemara full-back and outpaced the cover defence over the 30 metre sprint to the corner.
And five minutes later Morrison ran a great line to cut through the Connemara midfield and score under the posts, again following some good work from Bann’s pack. Neville Farr added the conversion to give Bann a 7-12 lead.
Two Sean Joyce penalties for infringements at the breakdown put Connemara 13-12 ahead at the half-time break.
Banbridge started the second half brightly and were eventually rewarded when Richard Finlay found a gap in the Connemara defence to score under the posts. Farr’s conversion took his side 13-19 ahead.
But five minutes later that lead was relinquished once more, when Bernard Keaney finished off a fine Connemara move to edge his side in front. Banbridge had defended well against sustained pressure but eventually ran out of numbers and Keaney crossed for the try, converted by Joyce.
Captain Simon McKinstry crashed over from close range to secure the four-try bonus point for his team following a good break and off-load from man of the match Ryan Patterson.
Bann kept up the pressure on the home side, using the second half wind to maintain territorial advantage. And eventually that pressure yielded the fifth and final try to allow Bann to open up an eleven point lead. Bann’s supremacy at the set scrum had become more emphatic as the game progressed and following a series of infringements by the home side close to their line the referee had no option but to award a penalty try. Farr’s conversion gave Bann a 20-31 lead.
To Connemara’s credit, they never gave up and Bann’s defence was given a stern test of its resilience in the final quarter, but the visitors’ line held firm to ensure a hard-earned workmanlike victory against tough opponents.
