Monivea 21
Ballina 3

By Rob Murphy

Monivea Scores: Rory O’Connor 2 tries; Ger O’Connor 2 pens, Dave Prior 1 drop goal, Seamus Fahy 1 con.

Ballina Scores: Andy Moynihan 1 pen

This game promised so much and offered so little. Ballina arrived as a potential threat to the province’s kingpins and left on Sunday evening with plenty to ponder.

From a defensive point of view, they can probably take some solace but with ball in hand the north Mayo men fell well short of their best and, as a result they never really looked capable causing the upset.

Monivea have much to work on but they are as clinical as ever. They scored late in the first half after a scrappy beginning. Andy Moynihan had put Ballina ahead in the opening minutes with a penalty and the home side didn’t respond on the scoreboard until the half hour mark.

The answer was a superb try which stemmed from a Dave Prior half break into the 22, a quick recycle from Kevin Higgins and then rapid ball to the open side through the hands of Pat Devane, Eoin Rooney and Willie Parker who popped back inside to Rory O’Connor running a superb line for the try. Who said forwards and backs don’t mix?

The conversion was missed but late on in the half Prior struck a drop goal to stretch the lead to 8-3. That effort had come after the Monivea pack had been sternly repelled in a succession of close in drives on the Ballina line. Encouraging signs for the visitors.

Throughout the game the Ballina pack worked well. The scrum thanks to David Rowe and Tom Toolan was rock solid and Paul Neary in particular excelled in the back row, darting off the scrum and making life difficult for Darren Blade and Ger O’Connor.

Daniel Carribine and Aidan McNulty also deserve mentions for some trojan work. Alas the entire team just wasted too much possession from the visitors who rarely clicked in an attacking sense and produced a succession of unforced errors.

Monivea held firm in the second half adding to their lead with an early Ger O’Connor penalty but they failed to capitalize on an extra man while replacement James O’Connor was in the bin and could have got themselves into bother had Ballina kicked one of two penalty opportunities to bring them within a score.

Those missed opportunities were eventually punished when Tom Toolan saw red for alleged stamping with O’Connor kicking another three point before replacement Kieran Concarr launched a blistering attack from his own 22 with a brilliant pass to Seamus Fahey.

Martin King was the link man before Rory O’Connor took it on over half way, beat the cover and waltzed home for the clinching score. A good finish to each half was enough to see Monivea safely home.

Monivea: G Divilly; B McDonnagh, D Prior, K Higgins, R O’Connor; G O’Connor, D Blade; G Fitzmaurice, P Devane, R Coughlin; S McHugh, W Parker; P Fitzmaurice, M King, E Rooney.

Replacements: C Divilly, K Concar, S Fahey.

Ballina: A Moynihan; M Clarke, S McCarron, C Quinn, C Rouse; D Newman, M Murphy; D Rowe, R Kelly, T Toolan; M Healy, D Carribine; P Neary, S Loftus, A McNulty.

Replacements: C Forde for Healy, J O’Connor for Rowe and N O’Malley for Moynihan

Referee: Dave O’Brien