Coach Ian Dornan’s pre-match talk included the following line, “the game is not lost if you don’t give up.” Ballynahinch never gave up in this encounter as they dominated from start to finish. Indeed it was probably an even easier victory than the score suggested. Quin’s were an average team, and were out of contention even before they lost a winger with a suspected broken nose mid way through the first half. He was followed by their scrum half with a hamstring injury just before the break.

Hinch were quickly on the on the attack, James McBriar had a straight forward penalty attempt in front of the posts but his effort sailed wide and the ball lodged firmly at the top of a tree. James Gillespie, playing in his favoured centre position was causing the visitors defence all sorts of problems with his powerful running; his ability to straighten the line was a feature of the match.

The penalty kick into the corner and a Michael Davidson catch from the lineout has been a most productive ploy this season. The forwards drove over the try line and David Steele, playing at flanker, emerged from the bottom of the pile with the ball.

Undermanned upfront the visitors were under tremendous pressure in the scrums; the home backs were revelling in the extra space. From an advancing scrum on the 22 Mattie Glenn fed the ball to James McBriar for him to score with ease. The half finished with powerful runs from Tommy Turner and 21st birthday boy Pete Glass, the latter had one fifty metre break stopped in the visitors 22 by a last ditch desperate defence to leave the score at halftime 10-0 in Ballynahinch’s favour.

Hinch were quickly on the scoreboard as the second half got underway. Alan Dickson, playing near the level of his undoubted ability made ground up the wing and he fed Jonny Coen on the overlap for the try, James McBriar converted.

The contest over Hinch allowed a few errors to creep into their play a careless pass to Mark McCormick landed at his feet but he was able to trap the ball skilfully pick up, bamboozle the Quins defence and touch down under the posts. James McBriar added the extras.

Back on the offensive again, James Gillespie, not for the first time straightened the Hinch backline to put Mark McCormick in again, McBriar converted. Demoralised Harlequins began to get niggley, arguing amongst themselves and the referee had to speak to their centre after he kicked the ball following a deliberate knock on.

David Steele bagged his brace of tries when he popped up among the backs. The impressive Gillespie converted from out wide to complete the scoring.

Quins with nothing to lose ran everything, a series of tap and go penalties were going nowhere. Frustration mounted and the centre that the referee had spoken to earlier blatantly punched a Hinch forward in the face, his brother stepped in to administer revenge, as all hell broke loose. When calm was restored two yellow cards were produced, a short time later the referee had the good judgement to finish the game early to avoid further mishap.

P.Glass, M.McCormick, J.Gillespie, J.Coen, T.Turner, J.McBrair, M.Glenn, L.Jones, D.Steele, A.Dickson, T.Mannus, M.Davidson, I.Wallace, I.Dornan, A.Glenn.