Ballyshannon RFC into Butler Shield semi-final after win over Cooke RFC

Ballyshannon RFC are into the Butler Shield semi-final after an exciting contest at the Lakeside against Cooke.

The home side, despite being short quite a few regulars due to injury, ran in six tries, three of them by debutant full-back Shane Delahunty, who was unstoppable on the run. Andy Farrell would have loved to have a player of his pace in his ranks at the Parc des Princes on Thursday night. Delahunty would have given Louis Bielle-Biarrey a run for his money.

Delahunty was given a run for his money for man of the match by Mark O’Shea, who was the other standout player for the winners, both in defence and attack.

Twice during the contest ‘Shannon went 17 points clear, but on each occasion Cooke pegged them back with just five points between the sides at half-time and the margin was down to three in the final minutes before a Cian Barden penalty allowed the Ballyshannon side a chance to breathe a little easier.

Yellow cards picked up in the second and fourth quarters by ‘Shannon added to the anxiety.

Both O’Shea and Delahunty had early breaks without yielding a score before outhalf Cian Barden had the opening try, breaking clear from a five metre scrum to dive over. Barden missed the conversion. Indeed, only three of the six  Ballyshannon tries were converted which helped keep Cooke in the game.

Two minutes later Callum Doherty Craig made the break for the second try with Daire McDevitt going over in the corner. When Shane Delahunty broke clear for a third try and a 70 lead on 20 minutes it looked as if the home side would have an easy victory.

But back came Cooke with a converted try. Veteran scrum half Eoin Halliday got over for a fourth try, this time converted by Barden. But before half-time Cooke hit back with two tries, one of them converted to leave it 24-19 at the break.


Lineout action from the Ballyshannon v Cooke game at Lakeside

When Delahunty galloped in for two more tries in the 54th and 59th minutes for a 36-19 lead it again looked like being a comfortable win for ‘Shannon but a yellow card picked up by Paul Kerrigan was followed by two Cooke tries to cut the lead to just three - 36-33 with five minutes left.

A penalty from Cian Barden in the 78th minute eased the pressure and Ballyshannon held on for victory.

The game was very well contested despite the fact that the scrums were uncontested and Ballyshannon used that to their advantage throughout. It allowed them primary possession which led to O’Shea and Delahunty being able to run the ball, even from their own endline.

Ballyshannon: Mark Gettins, Mark Fisher, Phil Cleal; Michael Boyle, Patrick McGowan, Paul Kerrigan, Shane Duffy, Dara Keown, Eoin Halliday, Cian Barden, Daire McDevitt, Mark O'Shea, Callum Doherty Craig, Tommy Clyne, Shane Delahunty.

Replacements:  Killian Bradshaw, Danny Breen, Adrian Tivnan.