U 14’s match report v Bandon
Ballincollig 10 Bandon 17Despite Ballincolligs final league game ending in a defeat Ballincollig played a great team today and were arguably the better team and had the opportunities been taken the result of this game could have been different.
Ballincollig started the better and came out of the blocks running. Great pressure forcing Bandon on the back foot.
Bandon were rocked a bit possibly by not expecting the level of pressure put on them. Ballincollig rightly so got the first try by a great brake by Shane Brennan through the centre and weaved his way past a few tackles to sprint under the posts. Unfortunately the kick was missed but the home team were 5 points up.
The rest of the first half had Ballincollig backs playing some great rugby and regularly fitting the gap in Bandons ranks. Unfortunately when a try looked possible the final pass was not great and the opportunity missed.
Bandon meanwhile started to up their game and their strong forwards started to make yardage. Then with only a couple of minutes to go till the end of the first half Bandon got a try of their own under the posts despite some gallant Ballincollig defensive play. The conversion was taken and the half ended with Bandon 7 to 5 up.
Bandon were rocked a bit possibly by not expecting the level of pressure put on them. Ballincollig rightly so got the first try by a great brake by Shane Brennan through the centre and weaved his way past a few tackles to sprint under the posts. Unfortunately the kick was missed but the home team were 5 points up.
The rest of the first half had Ballincollig backs playing some great rugby and regularly fitting the gap in Bandons ranks. Unfortunately when a try looked possible the final pass was not great and the opportunity missed.
Bandon meanwhile started to up their game and their strong forwards started to make yardage. Then with only a couple of minutes to go till the end of the first half Bandon got a try of their own under the posts despite some gallant Ballincollig defensive play. The conversion was taken and the half ended with Bandon 7 to 5 up.
The second half was played with the same tempo. Ballincollig continued to match a strong Bandon team and the interaction between the scrum half and fly half enabled the ball to get out to the Ballincollig backs quickly. Unfortunately some poor forward support meant that at times the yardage gained was often lost when the ball was given back to Bandon at the breakdown. This resulted in a couple of quick counter attack tries by Bandon when Ballincollig had lost their formation by pushing forward. Bandon lead 17 point to 5 with 5 minutes to go when Ballincollig again drove forward by great back play and scored over in the corner to make the last 2 minutes exciting. Unfortunately the clock ran out and the game ended with a Bandon win.
However every one should be proud of the effort and commitment given by each and every boy playing for Ballincollig today. Their played for each other and their team. The league may have ended, but the story of this team is just beginning.