Senior Rugby Round-Up

Cork Constitution slipped to fifth place having been defeated 30-12 at home to fellow Bateman Cup Finalists St. Mary’s College today.

Despite opening the half well the home side found themselves trailing 17-0 at the break following a brace of tries from St. Mary’s wing, Steve Toal–Lennon. Cork Constitution missed the chance to take the lead early on after a Johnny Holland penalty fell just wide of the posts.

The home side were reduced to fourteen men following a yellow card and St. Mary’s began to take control of the game as Gavin Dunne registered the visitors first points with a well struck penalty in the twenty-fifth minute. Moments later Lennon crossed the line for his first try of the afternoon with Dunne adding the extras.

A good spell of play followed for Con as they looked to break through the St. Mary’s defence, but a failed pass found the hands of Lennon as he broke from inside his own 22, covering the lenght of the pitch to score his second. Dunne converted and the Leinster side headed into the break with a comfortable 17-0 lead.

It wasn’t long before Gavin Dunne opened the scoring with a penalty on the fourth minute of the half. A scuffle inside the opening ten minutes saw both sides reduced to fourteen and things went from bad to worse for the home side as they were shown a further yellow card five minutes later. Dunne slotting the penalty between the posts. A third try for St. Mary’s from captain Matthew D’Arcy, converted by Dunne gave the visitors a 30-0 lead going into the final fifteen minutes.

A triple substitution from Cork Con injected some urgency into their play and the try finally came off the back of the scrum courtesy of Brian Hayes and was quickly converted by captain Gerry Hurley. Minutes later, substitute Conor Desmond touched down in the left corner for an injury time try for the home side. The missed conversion in the last play of the game sealed the 30-12 victory for St. Mary’s and eased their relegation troubles.

Cork Consitution XV: Daragh Lyons, Niall O’ Driscoll, Robert Clune, Scott Deasy, Cronan Healy, Johnny Holland, Gerry Hurley (Capt), Patrick Galvin, Andrew O’ Driscoll, Brian Cagney, Brian Hayes, Philip Donnellan, Graham Lawlor, Brian O’ Hara, James Ryan Replacements: Brian Vaughan, James Rochford, Cathal O’ Flaherty, Alex Ryan, Conor Desmond.

St. Mary’s College XV: Conor Hogan, Steve Toal-Lennon, Marcus O’ Driscoll, Rob Hudson, Darragh Fanning, Gavin Dunne, Matthew D’Arcy (Capt), Colm McMahon, Dylan Fawcett, Arthur Lyons, Steve Bradshaw, Gerry Sexton, Ciaran Ruddock, Gareth Austin, Darragh Keller Replacements: Rory O’ Donovan, Tom O’ Reilly, Mark Fallon, Ryan O’ Loughlin, Andrew Burke.

Elsewhere in the relegation battle U.L. Bohemian came from six points behind to claim a valuable 13-9 home win over Old Belvedere, which takes them six points clear of their Limerick rivals Shannon at the bottom of the table.

Old Belvedere almost snatched the win at Annacotty but a knock-on close to the line three minutes from the end was costly. The home side got off to a nervous start and were punished when they roamed offside after five minutes and Josh Glynn slotted the penalty.

Glynn doubled the score with his second penalty after twenty-six minutes but then came the only try of the game. Following a series of drives second row Ed Kelly found a gap to drive over and Ben martin converted to put the home side 7-6 in front.

Martin stretched the lead with a penalty after forty-five minutes and ten minutes later Glynn was again on target to leave only a point between the sides. Martin and Glynn exchanged penalties as UL Bohemian held on for a precious win.

Scorers: UL Bohemian: Tries: Ed Kelly; Con: Ben Martin; Pens: Ben Martin 2 Old Belvedere: Pens: Josh Glynn 2

Shannon remain bottom of the table following their 32-17 defeat away to Clontarf at Castle Avenue, despite leading 12-6 at half time with tries from John Shine and Dan Heffernan and a conversion from Rob Guerin. A second half try from David O’ Donovan proved too little too late as Clontarf claimed a bonus point win to jump above Cork Constitution into fourth place.

Scorers: Clontarf: Tries: Matt D’Arcy, Tadgh Furlon, Adrian D’Arcy, Mark Flanagan; Cons: Richie Lane 3; Pens: Richie Lane 2 Shannon: Tries: John Shine, Dan Heffernan, Davind O’ Donovan; Con: Rob Guerin

At the top end of the table Young Munster move into second place following their hard earned 13-10 victory over Dolphin at Clifford Park. The home side went in front after twenty-four minutes when Dolphin were penalised for a line-out infringement and Brian Haugh opened the scoring.

Six minutes later the home supporters greeted a sweetly taken drop goal by player coach Mike Prendergast.
Eight minutes before the interval Dolphin got on the score sheet when Barry Keeshan kicked a penalty after Young Munster had failed to roll away.

The first try came after fifty-three minutes. A persistent Young Munster saw a number of players held close-in before the ball was worked to Mark Doyle who got over sufficiently close to allow Haugh add the conversion.

Dolphin were reduced to fourteen when their fullback was yellow carded for a leg trip on Darragh O'Neill. In the eighty-third minute Dolphin were given a slight glimmer of hope when a stray pass was intercepted by flanker Miah Cronin who raced in under the posts. To expedite matters for his side he drop-kicked the conversion but time ran out on the Cork side.

Scorers: Young Munster: Try: Mark Doyle; Con: Brian Haugh; Pen: Brian Haugh; Drop Goal: Mike Prendergast Dolphin: Try: Miah Cronin; Con: Barry Keeshan; Pen: Barry Keeshan

Lansdowne emerged 34-22 victors in their top of the table clash with Garryowen at the Aviva Stadium. The win moves them one step closer to the Ulster Bank All Ireland League title having extended their lead to ten points.

Garryowen were level with the league leaders fifteen apiece at the break following first half tries from JP Cooney and Cian O’ Shea and a conversion and a penalty from Matt Jarvis. An Aaron McCloskey try and Matt Jarvis conversion in the final play of the second half was not enough as a five try blitz claimed a valuable bonus point for the title hopefuls Lansdowne.

In Division 1B Bruff are still in the relegation zone after losing at home to Malone 21-17. The visitors led 21-5 at half time with Mark Cosgrove scoring Bruff’s try. A late rally by the home side saw tries from Michael Carroll and John Moore and a Brian Carroll but it was not enough to get some vital points.

U.C.C. and Galwegians played out an exciting 19-19 draw at the Mardyke in their Division 2A top of the table clash. A try from Dan Horgan converted by Sean Og Murphy left the sides level 7-7 at half time. Further tries by Luke Duffy and Charlie O’Regan and a conversion by Darren Sweetnam looked like giving the students the points but a late try by Aidan Ryan secured a share of the spoils for Galwegians.

Scorers U.C.C.: D Horgan, L Duffy, C O’Regan tries, S Og Murphy con, D Sweetnam con.
Galwegians: T Leader try 2 cons, Pen try, A Ryan try

U.C.C.: D Sweetnam; O Dennehy, L Duffy, d Horgan, K Slater; S Og Murphy, D Foley; B Scott, K Stokes, S Moynihan; B Quill, D O’Connell; C Gallagher, J MacCarthy, W Ryan. Replacements: M O’Mahony, C Slowey, D McSweeney, J Holland, C O’Regan.

Galwegians: T Leader; C Conroy, B Murphy, G O’Brien, J Cleary; D Clarke, B Lee; J Naughton, C Muldoon, J East; A Ryan, B McClearn; R Fitzgerald, I Muldoon, E Rooney. Replacements: C O’Rourke, D Leader, P Hackett, E Earle, P Griffin.

Old Crescent also had to settle for a share of the spoils with Bective Rangers after they played out a 20-20 draw at Rosbrien. Graham O’Keeffe scored a try for Crescent who were also awarded a penalty try and Padraig Quinn converted both and also kicked two penalties.

Cashel continued on their winning ways with a 15-7 home win over bottom side DLSP.

Highfield were no match for Seapoint going down 41-10 at Kilbogget Park. Colm Gallagher scored a try for the visitors and David O’Hea kicked a conversion and a penalty.

Midleton won their bottom of the table clash with Greystones at the Towns Park 10-7. All the scores came in the opening half with Gary Colbert scoring a try for the home side and Jeff Hitchmough kicked a conversion and a penalty.

A second half rally that yielded three tries secured Nenagh Ormond a 27-3 win over Sunday’s Well at Musgrave Park to keep their outside hopes of promotion alive in Division 2B. The sides were level 3-3 at half time with Shane O’Riordan kicking a penalty for the ‘Well and Dan Fogarty replying for the Tipperary side. Tries from Rory O’Brien, Lemeki Viapula and Stephen Carey all converted by Fogarty who also kicked another penalty secured the points for Nenagh.

Scorer for Sunday’s Well: S O’Riordan pen.
Nenagh Ormond: R O’Brien, L Viapula, S Carey tries; D Fogarty 2 pens, 3 cons.

Sunday’s Well: D O’Shea; S O’Sullivan, R O’Mahony, M Quinlivan, P Sheehan; S O’Riordan, P Arigho; I Murphy, J Moynihan (c), F Moynihan; S Walsh, S Desmond; P Giradaut, J Mulcahy, R Lane. Replacements: D Loftus, J Barry, W McCarthy, B Allary, D O’Connell.

Nenagh Ormond: S Carey; S Nash, G Harmse, Derek Corcoran, David Corcoran; D Fogarty, E Gardiner; D Dunne, A Grey, F Brislane; S O’Callaghan (c), K O’Flaherty; L Viapula, R O’Brien, R Whelan. Replacements: A Dwyer, A Doyle, P O’Connor, K Seymour, M Slattery.

At the other end of the table it was bad news for both Munster clubs as Clonakilty lost at home to Ards 17-6. James Deasy kicked two penalties for Clonakilty and Connemara won their first game defeating Thomond 21-12 at the Monastery Field.

Ulster Bank League Division 1A:

Clontarf 32 Shannon 17
Cork Constitution 12 St. Mary's College 30
Lansdowne 34 Garryowen 22
U.L. Bohemian 13 Old Belvedere 9
Young Munster 13 Dolphin 10

Division 1B:

Ballymena 5 Dublin University 42
Ballynahinch 7 U.C.D. 19
Blackrock College 23 Belfast Harlequins 23
Bruff 17 Malone 21
Dungannon 22 Buccaneers 24

Division 2A:

Cashel 15 D.L.S.P. 7
City of Derry 35 Banbridge 22
Corinthians 21 Terenure College 15
Midleton 10 Greystones 7
Old Crescent 20 Bective Rangers 20
Old Wesley 27 Queens University 33
Seapoint 41 Highfield 10
U.C.C. 19 Galwegians 19

Division 2B:

City of Armagh 13 NUIM Barnhall 19
Clonakilty 6 Ards 17
Connemara 21Thomond 12
Instonians 16 Boyne 11
Sligo 22 Naas 30
Skerries 25 Navan 25 (played on Friday)
Sunday's Well 3 Nenagh Ormond 20
Suttonians 8 Rainey Old Boys 35