Monivea RFC

Monivea 54
Ballina 10

> Monivea remain top of the table after a ruthless display earned them a
> convincing win over second placed Ballina at the Castle grounds on Sunday.
> Ballina travelled south confident of causing an upset but the visitors
> were left shell shocked after a truly magnificent first 40 minutes where
> the home side ran in six tries from Kevin Higgins, Colman Maher, Ronan
> Coughlan, Willie Parker, Brian Murphy and John Culkin. Ger O'Connor kicked
> 5 conversions to leave the half time score at 40-0. With many pundits
> suggesting a slump in form, they were well and truly answered by a rampant
> home 15 who produced total 15 man rugby in a half where the highlight was
> their ability to offload in the tackle that had Ballina's defence in
> trouble from the first catch by Brian Murphy from the kickoff.
> With the bonus point secured and the bench emptied after the restart
> Ballina had their purple patch and scored twice in the third quarter in
> which they were well on top.
> But Monivea's fitness came in to play and they finished the game as they
> had started with further tries from Martin King, which was converted by
> O'Connor and Kevin Higgins who converted his own try to leave the final
> score 54-10.
> It is impossible to single out any individual as the 20 who wore the Red
> and Black stepped up to the mark and answered all the questions thrown at 
   them this week.
  Next up is the All Ireland cup and an away tie against Skerries and a 
  further indicator as to how this years squad are progressing.