Ballinrobe outmuscled by Dunmore in Junior Cup quarter-final

CONNACHT JUNIOR CUP QUARTER-FINAL

Ballinrobe 10

Dunmore 33

In Ballinrobe

After Westport's exit on Saturday evening, the last remaining Mayo club exited the Connacht Junior Cup this afternoon.

Ballinrobe knew they had a big challenge on their hands facing a Dunmore team that made it to the final of the competition in the last two years. 

In cold conditions, with occasional short showers, the guests from Galway dominated possession and territory over the full 80 minutes. Ballinrobe found it hard to get into the Dunmore half, particularly in the opening half.

Early pressure quickly led to the first try of the afternoon, when Dunmore captain Conor Burns couldn't be stopped from a few metres out. 

Dunmore's suffocating line-speed made it extremely hard for Ballinrobe to gain momentum and move up the field. They tried to make an impression but each time they got a penalty in their favour, they couldn't capitalise on it.

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Numerous times Ballinrobe had to defend deep in their own half. The Mayo men showed great bravery and it spoke volumes of their resilience in adversity, when fly-half Dylan Keane jackled over the ball to win a turnover on his own five-metre line.

Ballinrobe had no points to show at half-time, but their staunch defensive effort ensured they were only trailing 7-0.

The second half started promisingly, after Dunmore hooker Jamie Geraghty was sin-binned for an off-the-ball incident, and Ballinrobe's Dylan Keane drilled a 45m penalty straight between the sticks.

There was renewed optimism as Ballinrobe finally got a foothold in the Dunmore half, stringing several phases together. However, slowly but surely the Galway men pushed them further back, winning the big collisions.

If it was Ballinrobe's strategy to provoke a penalty, it didn't work out, as Dunmore eventually got their hands on the ball.

They Galway men smelt blood at that stage and came to life. A few thunderous carries later, second-row Gary Duffy scored the team's second try, which was duly converted.

Even though Ballinrobe kept plugging away, the general impression was that Dunmore were firmly in the driver's seat. 

Quickly, they confirmed this view by adding another try. This time Conor Burns was sprinting along the touchline and escaped multiple Ballinrobe men trying to stop him. Burns touched down between the sticks and it was effectively game over.

The hosts got their consolation try, thanks to a brilliant effort from Ronan Hughes, who spotted a rare gap in the Dunmore defence and jumped through it to touch it down.

The floodgates opened in the final minutes. Ballinrobe scrum-half McHugh was sin binned and Dunmore's flanker Andrew Doherty added a brace of tries to ensure their superiority would be reflected on the scoreboard. Full-time score: 10-33 for Dunmore.

Ballinrobe gave a good account of themselves, and in the first half, their defence held firm but the constant pressure and power from Dunmore were simply too much too handle on the day.

A full match report will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News

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