Ross lose in Balbriggan but bonus point keeps them on top
NEW ROSS firsts made the trip to Balbriggan on Sunday in a repeat of the ultimately pointless divisional play-off from last season, and commenced proceedings with a minute’s silence as a mark of respect to Anthony Foley, former Ireland and Munster captain, whose untimely death in Paris had been announced just two hours earlier.
The Ross lads got off to the better start with a scrum close to touch followed by distribution across the back line with an eventual breakdown being recovered by Gary Murphy.
A rapid pass followed to Eanna Burke who scored in the corner with seven minutes on the clock. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
Just four minutes later, Balbriggan converted a penalty to leave the score 5-3. The very windy conditions, crossfield, were having a significant impact on proceedings and the Ross side were playing well against a much bigger Balbriggan pack.
With chances thin on the ground, the next score did not happen until the stroke of half-time. This time it was Balbriggan’s turn to cross the line but they spurned the conversion to leave the interval score at 8-5.
Balbriggan resumed the scoring after 56 minutes with another unconverted try. The next score, after 78 minutes, fell to Paddy Delaney after another sweeping backs break, but this time Kevin Burke added the extras from the kicking tee.
Balbriggan then held out to secure the win by the minimum margin, leaving Ross to rue an opportunity that probably got away. The match had yielded three Balbriggan yellow cards and some confusing decisions by the official in charge.
However, the bonus point from the loss keeps the Barrowsiders in pole position in the league.
New Ross seconds travelled to near neighbours Enniscorthy on Saturday to contest the latest round of the newly-constituted J2/J3 league. The home side came away from this 29-13 winners.
On Sunday, the New Ross ladies hosted Gorey and came out second best on a scoreline of 35-17.
The first XV had played Tullow in a South East league match one week earlier. This proved to be an extremely tight affair with the nil all half-time scoreline belying the degree of effort and entertainment provided.
Tullow were probably the unluckier not to have scored but some dubious decision-making saw them turn down some kickable penalty opportunities, while the Ross players demonstrated an admirable ability to defend high up the pitch.
The second-half was fully 17 minutes old before Tullow finally forced a try after multiple phases back and forth inside the home ’22. The conversion was unsuccessful and the Ross side went back on the attack immediately with some excellent corner kicking from Walsh and superb kick chasing from Harte and Bartek.
The unexpected dominance of the Ross scrummage delivered quick ball for the backs who launched attack after attack but all to no avail. At 79 minutes, Tullow got over in the right corner but failed in the conversion attempt to leave the final scoreline 10-0.