McKinstry hat-trick helps Bann to AIL win

Connemara 10

BANBRIDGE had this All-Ireland League game all wrapped up after half an hour’s play thanks to four tries, three of them courtesy of skipper Simon McKinstry.

Connemara were missing a number of key players and although they battled gamely throughout, they struggled to compete up front, with the Bann three-quarters benefiting from the resultant riches of quality possession.

The visitors’ cause was not helped by the loss of players on two separate occasions to yellow cards, awarded as they tried illegally to staunch the flow of points. That they didn’t concede more was down in part to wrong options being taken by the Bann attackers, with at least two further scores frittered away as players ignored a free supporting player.

Robin Thompson set the ball rolling with a simple penalty after four minutes. Then the Bann backline swung into action with a sparkling move breaking down just short of the Connemara line.

But the momentum was still with the home side and when McKinstry picked up from a ruck a few metres out, he found a clear run to effect the touchdown, with Thompson adding the conversion points.

The Bann lock forward’s second try was virtually a carbon copy of the first, as his side continued to master the exchanges.

Then a driving maul from a lineout took the Bann pack inside the opposition 22 and when the ball was released Ashley Finlay jinked his way in for the third try.

Strong runs from James Andrews and Ryan Patterson laid the foundation for McKinstry’s third score, the lock again finishing off from close range. Thompson added the conversions to the third and fourth tries.

An impressive break from Connemara full-back David Keogh, just before the interval, allowed the visitors to make a rare visit to the Bann 22 and before they left they managed to cross for a try, touched down by flanker Martin O’Malley.

The Connemara defence came under intense pressure again early in the second half, culminating in a yellow card and ultimately a penalty try, converted by Thompson.

The visitors’ morale was raised briefly when they worked a move at the front of a lineout that allowed replacement Kevin Barry to cross for his team’s second score.

But after that it was back to the rack. Thompson took a neat flipped pass from Paul Ross to score a sixth try for the home side. Then replacement lock Jonny Martin replicated his skipper’s earlier efforts as he drove over from close range.

The final score had its origins in a Bann scrum on the halfway line. Pivot Neville Farr made the initial break, then Finlay exchanges passes with Jonny Pollock before racing in from 20 metres range.

Bann face stiffer challenges in the weeks ahead, with Ballynahinch first up in Saturday’s Senior Cup quarter-final, followed by Division Three pace-setters City of Derry in the AIL.

But coach Daniel Soper will have been pleased that his team bounced back from the limp display at Barnhall to show at least some of the potential within the squad.