OUR U-17 Boys travelled further west to Connemara on Saturday and came away with a comprehensive victory in the first round of the cup.
The scoreline was somewhat unfair on the home side and didn't reflect on the quality of their performance.
Ballina were excellent all over the park throughout the game, which was played in a strong wind. The victory was built on strong defence and innovative ball-handling in attack, in what was a full squad performance.
The visitors ran in nine tries over the course of proceedings, with a hat-trick from Tom Ruane, a double from Alex Mescal and singles from Gabriel Carral Arancho, Sean O’Hora, Conor Murphy and Cian Fitzpatrick adding to the Moysiders total.
Tom Ruane also converted four of the touchdowns in very tricky kicking conditions, and the Boys in Green got just reward for their exceptional passing designs and strong attacking play.
The visitors were quick out of the blocks playing against the strong wind. Gabriel Carral Arancho dotted down after three minutes, with Ruane converting. Sean O'Hora crossed five minutes later to extend the lead and despite strong Connemara defence, the visitors were 31-0 ahead at half time with Conor Murphy, Tom Ruane and Alex Mescal crossing the whitewash with Ruane converting twice.

Facing into the teeth of the wind in the second half, Ballina weathered a concerted period of pressure from the home side, defending stoutly on their goal line to keep the hosts at bay. Tom Ruane galloped away from the cover to dot down and converted his own score with 11 second half minutes played. Further well-worked tries from Cian Fitzpatrick, Alex Mescal and Tom Ruane left the visitors 54-0 clear with five minutes left to play.

To their credit Connemara Oughterard never threw in the towel and their persistence was rewarded with a converted try to bring the game to a conclusion.

The Ballina boys displayed fantastic commitment, very innovative and skilful attacking play and a solid defence. The home side gave a very good account of themselves on the pitch, in a game that was played with impeccable sportsmanship.

This was a great start to the Cup campaign. Well done to all the boys and coaches and thanks to Jamie Devers and Nathan Duffy from our U-16s who played their part in the victory. The group can now look forward to hosting Ballinasloe in the next round in two weeks.