Impressive start for our U16s

Monivea 14-48 Ballina

Ballina U16s travelled to Monivea for their first encounter of this season's league and came away with a decisive victory. The squad who won all before them as U15s last season was somewhat changed for this battle as unavailability, injury, sickness and emigration took five of the last starting team, so it was with some trepidation that the management sent the lads on the field.
However, Ballina are building and strengthening a squad for the seasons to come and this was obvious with the depth of talent on view in Monivea.
From the outset Ballina tried to play fast and loose but this played into the home side's hands and for the first ten minutes the visitors were pinned in their own half.
New combinations and the conditions frustrated the usual structures of Ballina play, but then, following some quick interplay and strong running on the left wing Seamus Mason touched down under the posts and the try was converted by Iarla Quinn.
From the restart Monivea powered up the park and pinned the visitors in their 22 before pounding the line and crossing for a converted try to leave it 7-7.
After this, the Moy boys realised that they were in a match so they settled to the task and while the Galway side used the same tactics on many occasions, the Ballina line held.
Then, following some loose play and fierce tackling, the ball ended up in Alex Hennigan's hands and a gap opened up and he was off.
Liam Golden was in support and they inter passed between each other, bamboozling the defence with Alex touching down under the posts, and putting the Mayo side 7-14 clear at the change of ends
Monivea came out hard after the resumption and quickly scored under the posts to level the match but then the boys in green settled to their task and the team started to hum. Two tries from Sam Callinan another two from Alex Hennigan and one from Liam Golden left the full time score reading 14-48.
The pick of the tries came after a huge kick out of defence was followed up by Sam Callinan who caught the ball on the bounce and raced over the line.
This was a good performance - the tackling was first class and some of the rucking was as good as any seen at the Sportsground afterwards. While the usual suspects stood up, special mention must go to Cormac Jackson for his rucking driving and defence; Aaron O’Malley for his defensive tackling and support; Jack Gawley who ran back many kick-offs and executed some flashy side steps; Ciaran Boland for stepping into the out-half position and giving his all; Paul Brennan for playing in three different positions and shining in all; Liam Connor, who Answered the call and played two positions and stood out in both and Thomas O’Boyle playing out of position in the backrow.
The squad then headed to the Sportsground and enjoyed the fare there as Connacht defeated Zebre