Ballynahinch’s AIB League Campaign took a nose-dive at the seaside in North Dublin. The Hinch men travelled south to meet bottom of the table side Suttonians, and after the standard set in previous AIL matches a positive result in this encounter was expected. Instead, the County Down men put is a disappointing effort which fell well short of the mark and they returned North without a single point.

It was a bitterly cold day in Sutton, and as kick off approached the flood lights were switched on at the JJ McDowell Memorial Grounds as a mark of respect to Past President Martin McEvoy who sadly passed away during the week. The skies darkened over at kick off, perhaps an omen that all was not going to be plain sailing for the visitors. In the opening minutes both teams took their time to adjust to the chilling off shore breeze which blew straight across the pitch making kicking to touch rather difficult to judge.

In the 7th minute Suttonians took the lead in dramatic fashion. South African winger Marno Meyer caused the damage, coming off his wing he burst through some weak Hinch tackling to surge deep into the Hinch 22. As the line approached he was tackled but managed to off load to number 8 John Tainui who dived over just right of the posts. Winger Mario Covis added the extra 2 points to give the Dubliner’s a 7-0 lead.

Covis was wide of the mark with a penalty shot in the 9th minute, then Mark Scott had a fairly simple penalty attempt in the 16th minute, but his effort hit the top of the left hand upright and bounced out.

The rugby was less than pretty as both sides tried to gain the upper hand, the Suttonians scrum proved to be very solid and their lineout worked well, in the backs the Dublin side looked more balanced with wingers Covis and Meyer looking very dangerous on the ball.

Suttonians increased their lead in the 32nd minute when the touch judge spotted an incident between Robert Greer and the Suttonians flanker Alan Walsh and brought it to the referee’s attention. The result was a penalty to the home side, which out half Paddy Maguire converted taking his side 10-0 clear.

Scott had another penalty attempt in the 38th minute but the wind drifted his kick left of the uprights to leave the Hinch trailing by 10 points at halftime.

The Hinch started the second half in determined fashion, centre Stuart Morrow attempted a drop goal in the 44th minute, has effort was charged down. Six minutes later Scott had a third attempt at goal, this time his kick was good, putting 3 points on the scoreboard, closing the points gap to 7.

Just as the visitors looked to have fought their way back into the contest they hit the self-destruct button. In the 53rd minute the Hinch men had taken play into the Suttonians half with some strong driving runs, but as the ball was moved left Dan Soper had his pass to Matt Miles intercepted on the halfway by winger Mario Covis who sprinted in for the decisive score which went unconverted.

Now trailing 15-3 things only got worse for the County Down men, first Harry McAleese was yellow carded in the 59th minute for coming into the ruck from the side then 3 minutes later John Gunson was signalled out by the Tough Judge for stamping and he was sent to the sidelines for 10 minutes. (It must be stated that the Hinch man was innocent it was a case of mistaken identity).

Now down to 13 men the Hinch side had a mountain to climb, it was all hands to the pump to prevent the Dubliner’s from scoring again, and when their compliment was restored to 15 the Hinch did manage an all-out assault on the Suttonians line but to no avail, and the game drifted to a very uninspired conclusion for the County Down men.

This was the worst Hinch performance of the season by far, if a serious attempt to progress in Division 2 is to be achieved a repeat dose must be avoided at all costs. Suttonians deserved their victory and good luck to them, they were the better side on the day, their pitch was in superb condition despite all the heavy rain over the past two weeks, they have a number of key players who will cause problems for other Division 2 sides. Both wingers Covis and Meyer are very dangerous and fly half Paddy Maguire has a useful boot. Up front tight head John Munro impressed as did number 8 John Tainui.

It was most disappointing result for all the Hinch supporters who made the journey to Dublin and they are hoping for a more prosperous new year on the results front. Thanks to Suttonians for their excellent hospitality in the clubhouse before and after the match it helped to ease the pain for the journey home.

The re-arranged Harlequins fixture is to be played on Saturday 5th January.