Our U-17 Boys opened their season with a hard fought and entertaining friendly game away at Westport. Despite coming out the wrong side of a 34-26 scoreline, Ballina gave an encouraging performance with some flowing backline moves, resulting in some fine scores.
Try scorers for Ballina were Tom Ruane, who also converted a further three tries scored by Joe Gallagher, Artai Vasquez who excelled in his first game and Jake Carr who rounded off the move of the game to touch down in the corner.
Westport were mobile and with strong running through midfield they scored a couple of their tries by outflanking the Ballina defence.
Whilst there are areas of improvement for our boys, the commitment and the skills shown by the Moysiders was a joy to behold, especially in the last 20 minutes of the game. We look forward to the upcoming league campaign with a great deal of confidence.
Well done to all involved.