Ballinrobe bulldoze Ballina to reach quarter-finals of Connacht Junior Cup

Connacht Junior Cup Last 16

Ballinrobe 52

Ballina 3

Oisín McGovern in Ballinrobe

THE gulf between Division 1A and Division 1C was glaring around The Green today as Ballinrobe marched to a facile win over Ballina to reach the quarter-finals of the Connacht Junior Cup.

The hosts landed eight tries, some with a surprising ease, as Ballina were held to one converted penalty from Ronan Connolly.

Ballinrobe bossed the game from start to finish, with burly Number 8 Rory Murphy barrelling over the line after just three minutes.

Stephen Conroy’s kicking was suspect in the early stages, but that mattered little with the rate that Ballinrobe were attacking the porous Ballina defence.

Killian McAleenan, Tom Staunton, Sean Mullin and Tom Lynagh all traversed the whitewash while tight-head Craig Hansberry put in yet another barnstorming display.

Ballina’s were infiltrated with ease at times, with Ballinrobe players riding several tackles before being apprehended.

Steven Conroy touched down for their sixth try in the 46th minute before ‘Robe relented in their barrage for a period.

Ballina only made one serious assault on the Ballinrobe try line before the end while Ballinrobe added further tries from local Gaelic footballers John Enda Flannelly and Evan O’Brien.

There will be a full match report plus reaction from the Ballinrobe camp in Tuesday’s print edition of The Mayo News.