The final game of the Quarter final round of this years Nutty Krust Tournament was held on cold ,wet and blustery Wednesday evening at Portadown rugby Club with last years winners Ballynahinch playing Dungannon.
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Dungannon elected to play with the wind in the first half but it was Balllynahinch who had most of the early play and were rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts on 11 mins but Matthew Mcclelland;s attempt went wide. Dungannon had a scrum on the Hinch 5m line but the ball was dropped by the centres and the chance went begging. Dungannon were awarded a penalty on the 15m line which was converted by no 10 Jake Finlay.
Hinch had a penalty on own 22 and ran the ball into Dungannon half and were awarded another penalty , which Hinch ran again but good Dungannon Defence keep Hinch out . There were two players yellow carded for a bit of a fracas with Hinch no7 and Dungannon no 1 being sin binned. Eventually a miss pass move on 34 mins led to ballynahinch opening their account with prop Luke Lewis scoring in the right hand corner. Conversion attempt was missed . Hinch kept the ball in hand preventing Dungannon getting possession and with Dungannon making lots of basic errors and failing to make use of the strong wind the Half time score was Hinch 5 Dungannon 3
Hinch increased their lead when from a knock on and from the resulting scrum no 15 Chris Orr made an excellent break and fed no 10 Lee Spence to score in the corner. And no 12 Matthew McCelland added the extra points Dungannon no 10 Jake Finlay took play to the Hinch 10m line wit . a line break but again Dungannon failed to capitalise. And gave away penalty for holding on . Hinch further increased their lead 12min into the second half from a tap penalty with second row Peter Ireland running through to score under the posts. Matthew Mcclelland added the conversion. 19-3 to Ballynahinch .
Dungannon upped their game in the final 20 mins of the game and it was after a period of pressure in the Hinch 22 that led to a try at the posts by no 4 John Joe O’kane which was converted by outhalf Jake Finlay . Dungannon continued to press forward and a superb break by no 10 Jake Finlay took play back into the Hinch 22 but again Dungannon were held up short of the line.
Dungannon thought they had reduced the arrears when they scored under the posts but the try was ruled out for a foot in touch . The remainder of the game was played in the Hinch half and with all their pressure Dungannon were unable to reduce the arrears and Ballynahinch held on to make the semis.
Final Score Ballynahinch 19 Dungannon 10
Man of the match award went to Ballynahinch no 1 Luke Lewis which was presented by Ulster Prop Paddy McAllister
Paddy McAllister then made the draw for semi finals which take place next week
Portadown v Malone Tuesday 23rd April
Ballynahinch V Banbridge Wednesday 24th April
Both games kick off 7.45pm
