Ballina made their inaugural appearance at Ros an Mhíl on Sunday to take on An Ghaeltacht, braving the aftermath of Storm Boleo.

With the advantage of the gale-force wind in the first half, Ballina looked to make the most of their attacking opportunities. An Ghaeltacht had other ideas, however, and drove hard through the middle. Ballina defended their line resolutely, with thunderous tackling repeatedly frustrating the home side. Jordan Keighley read the opposition backline, accelerated into a gap and seized the opportunity, sprinting out of defence before offloading to Mikey Caden, who used the wind to race clear. Eddy Dodd added the conversion to give Ballina the lead.

An Ghaeltacht responded by powering over from a five-metre scrum to score, but the conversion drifted wide into the gale.
Ballina used the wind to gain territory and made good use of accurate lineout possession, with John Langan finding Conor McCarron. Quick ball from scrum-half Chris Walsh released Adam Naughton, who burst through the An Ghaeltacht defence to touch down.

Ballina continued to attack with intent and front-row dynamo Ronan Tully showed pace and power to score out wide, leaving the visitors 17–5 ahead at half-time.

Facing into the gale after the break, Ballina came close to adding another score early in the second half. An Ghaeltacht’s heavier pack began to gain the upper hand at scrum and maul time. Dean Greer and Michael Collins put in determined defensive efforts, but the home side continued to build pressure and scored from a maul following a lineout.

At the other end, Cathal Kelly chipped cleverly over the defence and combined with Luke Maloney, who raced up the wing, only for the bounce of the ball to deny Ballina with the try line in sight.

An Ghaeltacht’s powerful forward play brought two tries in the final ten minutes, turning the game around and giving the home side a 24–17 lead with time running out.

Ballina refused to give up and launched an attack from deep, with forwards and backs combining to work their way towards the An Ghaeltacht line. Collins and Kelly led the charge. Alex Hennigan appeared to force his way over close to the posts, but referee Eoin Staunton ruled that the ball had been held up. Ballina gathered the resulting drop-out and attacked again. Oisin Smyth Rouse, who had been outstanding throughout, looked to have grounded the ball amid a crowd of defenders, but the referee again ruled it held up.

An Ghaeltacht cleared their lines and kicked to touch to close out the match, with the final score 24–17.

Ballina can take pride in a committed performance and now look forward to two home fixtures over the next fortnight against Corinthians and Western Suburbs RFC from Washington, USA.

Ballina RFC President Richard West presented a Ballina RFC plaque to Seán Breathnach of An Ghaeltacht to mark the occasion, which was the first visit by a Ballina RFC senior team to Ros an Mhíl. The visitors received a warm Céad Míle Fáilte.

Ballina squad: 1. Nigel Wood, 2. John Langan, 3. Ronan Tully, 4. Conor McCarron, 5. Aodhan Lynn, 6. Alex Hennigan, 7. Luke Maloney, 8. Michael Collins, 9. Chris Walsh, 10. Eddy Dodd, 11. Jordan Keighley, 12. Adam Naughton, 13. Oisin Smyth Rouse, 14. Cathal Kelly, 15. Mikey Caden. Replacements: 16. Dean Greer, 17. Jack Murphy.
Match report: Daragh Quinn