Impressive win for ring-rusty U16s

After a long lay-off the Ballina U16 boys travelled to Tuam to resume their league campaign. The weather was not conducive to error-free handling and alongside Ballina's, rustiness their management were slightly concerned.
Having said that, the coaches persisted with the plan of building a squad, so the policy of player rotation was continued.
Both sides opened their play-books at the 'Fast and furious' chapter, but the Moy boys settled quicker, primarily due to their forwards gaining an upper hand in the scrums.
Dominance there yielded a fine return with at least three against-the-head in the first half.
After ten minutes of duelling up and down the paddock, Ballina surged up field and lay seige to the Tuam line.
This pressure paid off with Fiachna Barrett touching down for a try, converted by David Feeney for a 7-0 lead.
The boys in green warmed to their task, but try as they might they couldn't break free and defence was the order of the day as Tuam came looking for their opening score. However, the home side spurned a number of kickable penalties in an effort to cross the whitewash, and Ballina held their 7-0 lead at the break.
After the resumption, the visitors adjusted their play and upped the gears. As the home side tired and became more frustrated, gaps appeared and tries arrived from Fiachna Barrett and Hedd Morgan to stretch the lead out to 19-0.
As time ticked onwards, Ballina were awarded a lineout close to the home line. This led to a maul off the lineout and as it approched the try line Darragh Walsh peeled off and drove over for a classic score to bring the tally to 24-0.
The last try came moments before the end when Ballina were applying pressure in the opposition 22. A poor Tuam clearance was gathered by Seamus Mason who raced forward. The ball was then moved through the hands for Sam Callinan to break clear and touch down for a 29-0 victory.
All the squad got game time and players settled well; decision-making and execution was well improved on their last outing and although they were all rusty the rugby played was adventurous and great to watch.
Castlebar will be the opposition in the next round.
BALLINA: Cormac Jackson, Darragh Walsh (Capt), Daniel Boland, Cian Gibbons, Jack Gawley, Alex Hennigan, Hedd Morgan, Fiachna Barrett, Davin Feeney, Ciaran Boland Thomas O'Boyle, Liam Golden, Sam Callinan, Aaron O'Malley, Seamus Mason.
Replacements: Liam Connor, Alex Moran, Harry Reagan, Sean Murphy, Iarla Quinn, Mark Barrett, Paul Brennan