Malone Women created history at Ravenhill this afternoon with the Gibson Park outfit picking up the Women’s Junior Cup following a 31 – 3 win against Ballynahinch in the first ever Women’s final to be played at the home of Ulster Rugby.
Malone raced to an early 14 – 0 lead with tries from Brogain Ni Chiarrain and Ella Durkan in the first five minutes with Durkan converting both.
The scoring rate slowed somewhat after the initial flurry and Ballynahinch tried to work their way into the game. However, it was Malone who were next to score with Eimear Hagan crossing to take the lead to 19 – 0 on the 25th minute.
Hinch finally got some reward for their efforts when Alexa Grudgings knocked over a penalty on the half hour mark but any thoughts of a comeback were quickly quashed when Malone’s Hagan crossed for her second try of the afternoon, Durkan’s conversion taking the score to 26 – 3 at the break.
Despite an unconverted try from Malone’s Neve Jones at the start of the second half the second period was a much tighter affair with Hinch’s defence improving dramatically.
However, the end result was that the teams cancelled each other out and with no further scores the match ended with a 31 – 3 win for Malone.
Photo credit – Bob Given Photography
