Ballina concluded their Connacht League campaign, in Athlone on Saturday, against a much-vaunted Buccaneers side who will compete in Division 2A of AIL this season.
Once again, the Mayo men gave opportunities to the young guns who have been the mainstay of the team through the Connacht Senior League and they came of age with a statement of intent, inspiring the team to a precious victory.
The self-belief and intent was evident in the opening seconds as Calum Quinn fielded the kick-off and Mickey Murphy moved the ball to Chris O’Neill who accelerated through a gap, offloaded to Joe Murphy who was flying down the wing towards the Buccaneers line. A last gasp tackle by Callum Boland denied Murphy but the Ballina forwards were quickly on the scene and Conor Mason thundered over for a try before the Buccaneers had touched the ball.
Some good defensive play followed with Henry Hewson and Laurence Leonard producing bone-shuddering tackles. A skilfully co-ordinated lineout manoeuvre from Billy McVann to the high-flying Evan Ferguson set the platform for another Ballina attack in which Lindsay and Ronan Molloy released Quinn who sprinted straight through the Buccaneers centre partnership of Shane Layden and Robert Enright-Mooney to score under the posts. Lindsay added the conversion to put Ballina 12-0 clear after 10 minutes.
Buccaneers were stung into action with some strong words from their captain, ex Connacht player, Layden, but the Ballina defence combatted the onslaught. Marc O’Dowd, Luke Sweeney and Mark Walker, all tackled expertly. Liam Jones, making his senior rugby debut on the wing, was making light of the opposition, tackling all that came at him and attacking out wide with flying pace.
Buccaneers were not making headway and a forced pass by their out half Frank Hopkins was seized by Lahardane dynamo, Laurence Leonard, who outpaced the defence to touch down under the posts. Lindsay again added the extras for a 19-0 advantage.
Buccaneers looked to get back into contention, however the structured Ballina defence was outstanding. Big hits by Ferguson, O’Dowd and Leonard were repelling the hosts but eventually they found space to force their way through for a try, which left the half time score reading 19-5 in favour of the Mayo men.
After the restart, Buccaneers, stung into action by hard words from their coach, Peter O’Donnell, launched a sequence of attacks on the Ballina line. Superb defence by Sweeney, Jones, Mickey Murphy and Joe Murphy at various stages halted the advance. However a cut through the centre by Buccaneers winger allowed him to cross under the posts to bring the score to 19-12.
The Ballina team rallied and a brilliant piece of individual skill saw Kieran Lindsay kick through a loose ball, gather it while running full tilt, break a couple of tackles before passing to flying hooker McVann who ran a great support line to score. Craig McCormick converted to extend the Ballina lead to 26-12.
Ballina were back in business, Aiden McNulty and Damien Togher, now introduced at number eight and scrumhalf, added to the Ballina attack. A Buccaneers overthrow at the lineout was seized by Togher who broke quickly, spotted space behind the Buccaneers winger and delicately placed his kick deep into the corner. Again the Ballina forward brigade, led by the marauding duo of Hewson and Mason, cleared the ruck to allow Craig McCormick release the speedsters. Captain, Chris O’Neill latched onto the ball and his scything run through the Buccaneers left defenders clutching at thin air as he cruised through to touch down under the posts. McCormick’s conversion brought to score to 33-12.
Ballina’s structured defence was evident. The back row of McNulty, Leonard and Sweeney were aided by the youthful Walker and Ferguson who forced Buccaneers to pass the ball laterally with minimum advance. A forced pass was grasped by Lindsay who accelerated into space and offloaded to McVann who sprinted through to score. McCormick added the extras.
A fine midfield break by Quinn, Joe Murphy, Marc O’Dowd brought Michael Collins into play and he brought the game into the Buccaneers half. Leonard combined with his lineout lifters to rob the Buccaneers lineout, Togher box kicked cleverly to turn the opposition, Leonard hit a bone shuddering tackle to turnover possession for Ballina to launch yet another attack. O’Neill combined with Quinn to break the Buccaneers defence, his pass to flying Joe Murphy was perfect and he generously supplied a scoring pass to hooker McVann to get over for his hat-trick in the corner to bring the score to 45-12 in favour of the Mayo men.
A late counter attack from deep saw the Buccaneers winger, outpace the Ballina defence to score under the posts. This was followed at the end by an opportunist try from Layden who robbed the ball from the side of a Ballina ruck to score leaving the final score 45-24.
A fine conclusion to the Connacht Senior League for Ballina Rugby where coaches, David Newman, Con Rooney, Kieran Lindsay and Andy Moynihan were focusing on performances rather than scorelines. It is a testimony to the Mini Rugby and Youth Rugby coaches and structures in Ballina that the squad including four 18 year olds and three 19 year olds travelling to Buccaneers and other young men having made impressions during the Connacht Senior League are all “home grown”. As the Irish phrase goes, ‘Mol an oige agus tiocfaidh siad’.
The challenge for the coaches will be to integrate these young men with the players who were unavailable yesterday.
The All Ireland League beckons in two weeks when Galway Corinthians come to Ballina on Saturday October 5th followed by an away trip to Greystones before Blackrock travel to Ballina on Saturday October 19th.

BALLINA: C Lindsay, L Jones, C Quinn, R Molloy, J Murphy, K Lindsay, M Murphy; C Mason, B McVann,M Walker, E Ferguson, H Hewson, M O’Dowd, L Leonard, L Sweeney
Replacements: A McNulty, M Collins, D Togher, C McCormick, J Walsh
BUCCANEERS: M Murphy, D Browne, M Staunton, J Scouler, R Byrne, S O’Connell, D Tuohy, E Galvin, G Fallon, F Hopkins, D Corbett, R Enright-Mooney, S Layden, E O’Reilly, C Boland
Replacements; R Grenham, J Kelly, L Donnelly, A McAleer, R Murphy Sweeney, L Daly, C Daly