REPORT AND PHOTO GALLERY: Donegal Town RFC have good win at home to Ballyclare

Donegal Town welcomed Ballyclare to a wet and windy Holmes on Saturday. With an air of positivity building at the club in the past number of weeks and following three away games on the trot, Donegal were quietly confident of victory at home.

Donegal Town 1xv 18

Ballyclare 8

Captain Ernan Cassidy started the game like a man possessed, with his recent mid-season sabbatical wetting his appetite; he crashed over in the opening minutes for an unconverted try following some good phases by the pack. Ballyclare levelled things up within minutes and with Donegal playing against a strong gale in the opening half, they found it difficult to play territory and were pinned inside their own half for long periods.

Donegal defended doggedly for the remainder of the half, with Ballyclare going into the break with a 5-8 advantage following a converted penalty.

Donegal fancied themselves for the second half with the wind advantage however found themselves down to 14 with a sin-bin in the opening minutes. This mattered not as the 14 men camped in the opposition half. Front row of Lee Mosley, Ernan Cassidy and Colton Friel bossed the scrum while Shane Patton and Shane McNulty were always willing runners.  

On the 50th minute a good clearance kick was chased down by Eddie Gallagher and Gareth McMurray. From the turnover Shaun Diver was picked out and he crossed for five points, unconverted.  

With a strong wind advantage and back to a full complement Donegal kept the scoreboard ticking over with a well converted penalty from the boot of Andrew Walsh. Poor handling conditions meant Donegal got plenty of scrum practice and from open play opted to utilise all runners. Following some sustained pressure Shaun Diver crossed for his second of the day in the 70th minute, unconverted.

Donegal saw out the game comfortably and will look forward to entertaining Larne at the Holmes next Saturday.  

Team: Lee Mosley, Ernan Cassidy, Colton Friel, Shane McNulty, Matthew McClay, Steven Pearson, Shaun Diver, Shane Patton, Gareth McMurray, Victor Mitchell, David Giblin, Alex Boyd, Cian McCann, Liam Doherty, Andrew Walsh, Eddie Gallagher, Liam McGirr, Ciaran Harley.