It was good to be back at the big green acre for a traditional Easter final, on this occasion it was Easter Tuesday with the Hinch 3rdXV faced a strong Coleraine 2ndXV.

Niall Montgomery’s side have had a good league season with some impressive results recorded to date so they took to the pitch in confident mood in what was near perfect conditions for running rugby.

The opening minutes were rather scrappy with both packs taking their time to settle. Hinch did manage to string together a few phases and once Neil Douglas and David Denney started to make good ground George Clements and Peter Bell kicked deep into the Coleraine half to put the opposition under early pressure.

Coleraine found it difficult to clear the danger zone their halfbacks failing to find touch on numerous occasions. In the 9th minute the County Down men struck first when a speculative kick ahead was chased by winger Mark McCormick who managed to beat his opposite number to the touchdown with referee Gareth Dunlop up with play to award the try. Clements added the conversion to give the Hinch men an early 7-point lead.

The Hinch looked to be a bigger side and they did manage to cause Coleraine problems upfront. In the backs Peter Bell had a steady first half running and linking well with the pack, and when he had to kick he did so with a reasonable amount of accuracy. The experience of George Clements at scrum half was a major plus point for Hinch men as he kept his pack going forward and gave quality ball to Bell at outhalf. It was also nice to see the old style dive pass executed by both number 9’s.

Despite several good runs by the Hinch backline, which put Chris Perry and Mark McCormick into space, no further score was added to the tally before halftime.

Coleraine started the second half in a much more determined fashion and for the next twenty minutes they were camped deep in the Hinch half of the field. It was vital for the Hinch defence to hold firm and they managed to keep Coleraine out thanks to a magnificent effort from the pack. As Coleraine became more and more frustrated they took the wrong option and started to kick away possession.

In the final quarter the Montgomery’s men took the game to Coleraine with Perry. Bell and McCormick causing major problems with ball in hand. With 14 minutes remaining Hinch were awarded a penalty, which Clements converted and Coleraine lost the services of their flanker for deliberately hitting a Hinch player on the ground with his knees.

Now ten points clear and with an extra man advantage the game became all one way traffic as the Hinch pushed for another try, and eventually it came in the 78th minute when quick ball was moved left, with some crisp passing it found the hands of Chris Perry who danced his way past the cover defence to score in the left hand corner at the Memorial end. Clements failed to convert and the game ended with Hinch deservedly claiming the silverware.

The party soon got underway with the Hinch Club Chairman David Workman as a very proud Ulster Branch President handing over the Crawford Cup to a delighted Niall Montgomery. The players met back in Ballynahinch where they were driven around the town on the back of a lorry then to the clubhouse where they tucked into the celebration meal.