Ballina Mini-Rugby Football Club recently completed a very successful and eventful tour to Skipton in North Yorkshire. The touring party which consisted of 24 boys, age 12/14 and nine adults played a series of matches against Yorkshire opposition.
The under 12 A side had a very hard match against the North Yorkshire champions Wharfedale who have retained their crown for the past four seasons at this level. The Ballina side showed great strength in the forwards where the front row of Richard Kelly, David Thornton, Rodney O'Donnell and Swinford's Aiden McNulty pinned down their opposition at every opportunity and the second row partnership of brothers Sean and James Rafter drove into every ruck and maul at great pace.
The Ballina backs with Michael Murphy and Peter Gallagher varied their game to a great degree and gave the strong-running centres Richard Morrow and team captain Philip Rowe lots of ball to run with.
The flying wingers Adrian O'Toole and Louis Doherty tackled and chased everything that moved. Their results were Ballina 2-2 Wharfedale and Ballina 6-1 Skipton.

In the B Division, Ballina had great results against both Wharfedale and Skipton, winning one and drawing the other. This side, coached by Pat O'Malley and Kieran Rouse had very good forwards in Philip Ryan, Timothy Wills and Declan Campbell with Shane O'Malley, Richard Lewis, James O'Connor and Alan Brunker prominent in the loose. Backs to catch the eye included Richard Lacken and Andrew Moynihan at half-back with Declan O'Toole, Andrew Quinn, Fergal O'Malley also playing with great gusto.
The touring party took in a very enjoyable trip to Old Trafford and there was also a lot of sight-seeing around Skipton.
The U14 side had two games against Yorkshire opposition, going down narrowly against Sandal RFC, before defeating Skipton RFC.
The touring party were very well looked after by their hosts Skipton RFC and Ballina extended an invitation to the Yorkshire club to come and visit next year.
There was a Gala dinner in the clubhouse on Sunday night when plaques and presentations were exchanged.
The coaches who traveled were Michael Rowe, Pat O'Connor, Hugh Lynn, Pat O'Malley, Jim O'Toole, Eamon Kennedy, Blaise Brunker, Kieran Rouse and Padraic Quinn.