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Malone had to
survive two missed penalty attempts by Ballynahinch full-back Mark Scott to
hang on to a win that keeps the Gibson Park side’s Division Two promotion
hopes alive in a hugely entertaining contest.
The drama was unrelenting in the second half as the
home side overturned a 15-8 deficit at the break thanks to an unconverted
try by Kieran Hallet and drop-goal by Gareth Fry.
But just as Malone looked to have killed off the
contest with oppressive defending, Ballynahinch, who never stopped
attempting to move the ball from all areas of the pitch, managed to
engineer two penalty chances in the dying minutes after both sides had been
reduced to 14 men with the sin-binning of Stuart Lamb and Darren Barbour.
But Scott missed a drop-goal attempt with the free
ball from the first and then proceeded to miss both penalty shots much to
the relief of the home crowd.
Hinch had laid down an early marker with a penalty by
Scott in the eighth minute and then stretched their lead when Jonny Cullen
pounced on a dropped ball in the midfield by John Anderson and a wide pass
by Harry McAleese put Lamb clear and the No 8 showed great pace to elude
the cover defence and touch down in the 16th minute.
Malone, who had
seen an early penalty shot at goal by Hallet fall wide, struck back
immediately however as Fry created a chance out of nothing with a chip and
chase to create havoc in the Hinch defense and the winger showed great
commitment to win the race to the ball over the line and bring the home
side right back into the contest.
Yet Hinch, who
hoped to keep faint promotion hopes alive of their own, came back into the
half and after a neat chip by McAleese had set up an attacking line-out,
the visitors came close from a number of five-metre scrums.
Although Malone were able to clear their lines, the
visitors’ pressure told when prop Chris Stevenson charged over from close
range from a pop pass by Chris Napier, with Scott on target with his
conversion to establish a seven-point lead at the break.
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After a searing
break by full-back Peter Baird, Hallet caught the Hinch defence flat-footed
when his chip and chase allowed him to touch down for Malone’s second try
in the 49th minute to cut the deficit to two points.
Malone suffered a setback when No 8 Glenn Moore was
sent to the sin bin and Scott was just short with a long range penalty
attempt as the tension began to build for what proved to be a thrilling
final quarter.
A thunderous drive by Jarleth Carey created the
momentum for Fry to land a snap drop-goal in the 68th minute as the drama
intensified and although Hinch struggled to get into the scoring zone, they
kept coming only for Scott’s misses to allow Malone to hang on.
Foot note
by John Dickson: This was another game we should have won. It was a tremendous
performance from the pack, everyone of them gave 110%. Young David
McGreggor making his AIB League debut had an excellent game in the middle
of the front row and had a 100% record from touch. Lewis Johnston and Chris
Stevenson made their presence felt both in the scrum and in the loose as
did John Gunson and Chris Napier. The back row worked tirelessly throughout
with Stuart Lamb in particular taking ball forward.
Harry McAleese never stopped attacking
and his probing kicks around the fringes made good ground for the pack on
several occasions. Tommy Seymour also impressed every time he received the
ball, which unfortunately for the Hinch, was on rare occasions. Scotty did
have an off day with the boot, these things happen, but both Davy Harris
and Harry McAleese can kick - perhaps a change may have helped secure the
points.
This result means that we drop a position
in the League to 11th place while Malone are right up there in the play-off
zone, it is amazing what a single point win will do in this Division 2
league which has UCC leading on 34pts and Young Munster and Highfield
sitting with 32 points apiece.
We still have a game in hand, the date of
the rearranged fixture against De La Salle has yet to be confirmed. Our
next AIL fixture is against Bective Rangers at home on the 9th February
2008.
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