Ulster Bank League Roundup

Victories for Young Munster and Shannon in Division 1A of the Ulster Bank League as Garryowen are just pipped by leaders St. Mary’s College at Templeville Road.

Young Munster 9, Cork Constitution 7. (Cormac Liddy)
Young Munster went into the game against Cork Con’ four points in front of their Cork rivals who will consider themselves a little unfortunate not to have picked up more than a bonus point from their visit to Clifford Park in this Division 1A clash.
The home side dominated for most of this muddy affair but almost left the four points behind them as Con’ staged a late rally which almost paid off in a game which was not totally without controversy.
After a knock-on by a Con’ player referee Wilkinson initially awarded the scrum to Young Munster but having consulted with a touch judge he awarded a penalty to Con’ which Johnny Holland failed to convert inside the last ten minutes.
And there was more drama for Young Munster supporters to withstand as the visitors launched a strong late rally in the closing minutes. They put together several phases of play in a bid to create a drop goal chance for Holland. They eventually succeeded but the effort by the out half was wide.
At one stage in the second half two former Garryowen halfbacks, Willie Staunton and Gerry Hurley, were in opposition after the latter replaced Duncan Williams after 56 minutes.
It was Staunton who proved the match winner once again for his side.
Two successful kicks inside 26 minutes had his side 6-0 in front but in one of their rare incursions inside the Young Munster '22' Niall O'Driscoll got in for a Con’ try which Holland converted.
An early second half penalty by Staunton proved the winner of a game that saw few passages of open play due to the conditions but this time round Young Munster hold the bragging rights.
Scorers Young Munster: Willie Staunton 3 pens;
Cork Constitution: Niall O'Driscoll try, Johnny Holland con.
Young Munster: Ray Moloney; Mark Doyle, Mike Kelliher, Andrew Burke, Craig O’Hanlon; Willie Staunton, Mike Prendergast; Alan Cotter, Ger Slattery, Hugh McGrath; Darren Gallagher, Sean Duggan; Liam Og Murphy, James O'Neill, Nevile Melbourne.
Replacements: Ger Bourke, Ger Flaherty, Shane O'Neill, John Moroney, Declan Bannon.
Cork Constitution: Sean Scanlon; Niall O’Driscoll, Cathal Quinn, Ivan Dineen, Robert Clune; Johnny Holland, Duncan Williams; Brian Cagney, Andrew Cudmore, John Ryan; Brian Hayes, Joe Mc Swiney; Colm Flaherty, Brian O’Hara, James Ryan’
Replacements: Gerry Hurley, Brendan Cuttris, B Fogarty.

Lansdowne 17, Shannon 22.
Shannon eased fears of relegation with this victory over Lansdowne on the back pith in the Aviva Stadium.
A try by Stephen Keogh and a conversion and three penalties by Tadgh Bennett gave Shannon a 16-12 interval lead. An early try by Ross McCarron put the home side in front but two further penalties from Bennett saw Shannon take the points.
Scorers Lansdowne: John Cooney, Mark Roche try & con, John Cooney, Ross McCarron tries;
Shannon: Stephen Keogh try, Tadgh Bennett 5 pens, con.
Lansdowne: Ross McCarron; Cian Aherne, Sean Carey, M Roche, Matt Healy; Craig Ronaldson, P O’Driscoll; Jack O’Connell, Stephen Collins, Darren O’Reilly; Marc Feely, Willie Earls; Jordi Murphy, Jason Kelly, Ron Boucher.
Replacements: Tom Sexton, Martin Moore, Alan Matthews, John Cooney, C O’Donnell.
Shannon: Luke O’Dea; Willie O’Connor, Richie Mullane, Mossie Lawlor, Shane McNamara; Tadgh Bennett, Rob Guerin; Les Hogan, John Deegan, Kevin Griffin; Dan Heffernan, Fergal Walsh; Stephen Keogh, James Murphy, David Quinlan.
Replacements: Aaron O'Brien, Garry McNamara, John Sheerin, Alan Bennie, Aaron Spring.

St. Mary’s College 13, Garryowen 12.
St. Mary’s College maintained their lead at the top of the table with this narrow victory over Garryowen at Templeville Road.
Playing with the strong wind in the opening half Mary’s led 13-3 at the break and despite three penalties from Declan Cusack in the second half, the Dublin side held on for victory.
Scorers St. Mary’s College: Mark Sexton try, Ray Crotty con, 2 pens.
Garryowen: Declan Cusack 4 pens.
St Marys College: Conor Hogan; Ray Crotty, Stephen Grissing, Mark Sexton, Chris Lilly; Philip Brophy, Matt D’Arcy; Robert Sweeney, Richard Sweeney, Colm McMahon; Gareth Logan, Stephen Bradshaw; Damien Hall, Gareth Austin, Hugh Hogan.
Replacements: Marcus O’Driscoll, Darren Hudson, Barry O'Flanagan, Rory Brosnan, Kevin Carroll.
Garryowen: Ronan O’Mahony; Adam O’Loughlin, Ian Hanley, Corey Hircock, Conan Doyle; Declan Cusack, Fergal Lawlor; JP Cooney, Mike Sherry, P O’Shea; Mark Melbourne, Dave Sherry; S Buckley, Conor Hartigan, L. Vai Pulu.
Replacements: D. Rowley, D Lavery, Frank McKenna, K O’Gorman, N Cronin.

Clontarf 32, Dolphin 23.
Clontarf closed the gap on leaders St. Mary’s College to two points after picking up a winning bonus point in this victory at Castle Avenue.
Dolphin got off to a great start with a try from John Quill but Clontarf hit back to lead 22-11at half time with Barry Keeshan kicking two penalties.
Dolphin had the better of things after the break with a try from James Cronin and they were also awarded a penalty try. However Keeshan kicked a conversion and penalty but two penalty misses by the out half saw Dolphin go home empty handed.
Scorers Clontarf: Turlough Considine 2 tries, Michael McGrath, Simon Crawford tries, Richard Lane 3 cons, 2 pens.
Dolphin: John Quill, James Cronin tries, Penalty try; Barry Keeshan 2 pens, con.
Clontarf: Richard Lane; C Keegan, M McGrath, C O’Shea, T McCoy; N Reid, Sam Cronin; B Barclay, T Considine, N Treston; C O’Keefe, B Reilly; S Crawford, Barry O’Mahony, Frank Cogan.
Replacements: C O’Flynn, D Lambert, A D’Arcy, M Dufficy, D O’Meara.
Dolphin: Eamonn Mills; Cian Bohane, Eric Moloney, Danny Barnes, Harry Fleming; Barry Keeshan, Chris Bannon; James Cronin, John Cleary, Christy Condon; Kyle O’Dwyer, Chris Rowe; Rob O’Herlihy, John Quill, Ryan Murphy.
Replacements: John Leahy, Andy O'Driscoll, Kevin Lynch, Dave O’Mahony, Eoghan O’Shaughnessy

U.L. Bohemian 8, U.C.C. 3 (Cormac Liddy)
Neither side could manage a first half score in this mud fest at Annacotty but the dominant UL Bohemian pack got on top in the second half to take the points in this Division 1B clash.
Following a series of close-in scrums No 8 Sean Rennisson got in for a try after 48 minutes and Ben Martin kicked a penalty seven minutes later.
UCC fluffed a penalty chance before Luke Duffy was on target after 68 minutes.
UL Bohemian lost their highly rated Munster contracted prop, Dave Kilcoyne, with an eye injury after only two minutes and Garry Walsh took over.
Scorers U.L. Bohemian: Sean Rennisson try, Ben Martin pen.
U.C.C.: Luke Duffy pen
U.L. Bohemian: Darren Moroney; Rory White, Martin McPhail, Niall Kenneally, Finbarr Ahern; Ed Torrie, Cathal Sheridan; Dave Kilcoyne, Sean Henry, Kevin Flanagan; Ed Kelly, Dave Foley; Conor Kindregan, Eddie Rossiter, Sean Rennison,
Replacements: Gary Walsh, Brian Walsh, Fintan Cross, Dale Harris, Ben Martin.
U.C.C.: Luke Duffy; Michael deane, Cyprian Jouve, Kevin Slater, Joe Holland; Patrick Parfrey, Brian Slater; Ronan O’Neill, Peter McCabe, Paddy Ryan; Brian Quill, Dave O'Connell; James Mulcahy, Brian O’Callaghan, Luke Cahill.
Replacements: Wayne Falvey, Shane Moynihan, Willie Ryan, Johnny MacCarthy, Daryl Foley.

Ballymena 17, Bruff 8.
Bruff dropped more points at Eaton Park in their bid to pull away from the relegation zone with this defeat by promotion chasing Ballymena.
The sides were tied 3-3 at half time with Brian Cahill kicking a penalty for the visitors. Two converted tries after the break saw Ballymena claim the spoils and Bruff’s only reply was a try from Cathal O’Regan.
Scorers Ballymena: Luke Marshall try, pen, 2 cons, Andrew Kerr try.
Bruff: Cathal; O’Regan try, Brian Cahill pen.
Ballymena: Roger McBurney; Ricky Andrew, Ali fraser, Luke Marshall, Richard Aingworth; martin Irwin, Blane McIlroy; Connor Carey, John Burns, Simon Shawe; Darrell O’Kane, Andrew Kerr; Stephen Mulholland, Paul Pritchard, Ross Hackney.
Replacements: Andrew Warwick, John Andrew, David Whann, Willie McKay, Caolan Fitzpatrick.
Bruff: Brendan Deady; Tom O’Callaghan, Paul O’Brien, John Carroll, Brian Carroll; Brian Cahill, Eoghan Maher; David Horan, John Hogan, Ger Collins; Brian Horan, Brian Morrissey; Alan Bourke, John Shine, Paddy Clery.
Replacements: Colm O'Sullivan, Cathal O'Regan, Paudge Clery, Gary Leonard, Andrew Cashman.

Old Crescent 35, Instonians 0;
Old Crescent eased their relegation worries with this maximum point victory over fellow strugglers Instonians at Rosbrien in this Division 2A clash.
Brendan Guilfoyle was the Limerick side’s hero scoring three tries and Tom Cregan contributed the remaining scores a try, three conversions, drop goal and two penalties.
Scorers Old Crescent: Brendan Guilfoyle 3 tries, Tom Cregan try, 3 cons, 2 pens, drp gl.

Midleton 10, Thomond 3.
Midleton won this bottom of the table clash at Towns Park to keep alive their hopes of avoiding relegation from Division 2A against Thomond.
A Wayne Murphy penalty gave Thomond a 3-0 interval lead but second half tries from Michael Cronin and Alan Long saw Midleton claim the spoils.
Scorers Midleton: Michael Cronin, Alan Long tries.
Thomond: Wayne Murphy pen.

Corinthians 14, Clonakilty 7.
Clonakilty remain bottom of Division 2B after suffering another defeat at Corinthian Park.
Kieran Howlin was Clonakilty’s try scorer and Matt Kirby converted.
Scorers Corinthians: K O’Byrne try, W Williams 2 pens, E Flynn drp gl.
Clonakilty: Kieran Howlin try, Matt Kirby con.

Sligo 6, Cashel 18.
Cashel took another step closer to promotion from Division 2B in their first season in the Ulster Bank League with their tenth successive victory of the campaign.
Howard Stanley and Ed Leamy were try scorers for Cashel and Pat O’Connor kicked a conversion and two penalties.
Scorers Sligo: D Hawkins 2 pens:
Cashel: Howard Stanley, Ed Leamy tries, Pat O’Connor 2 pens, con.

Wanderers 13, Highfield 21.
Highfield kept alive their hopes of promotion from Division 2b alive with this victory over bottom side Wanderers on the back pitch in the Aviva Stadium.
Robert Bogue and David O’Hea were try scorers for the winners, Colin Mahony kicked a conversion and penalty and Darragh Masterson added two penalties.
Scorers Wanderers: F Meighan try, M Boland con, 2 pens.
Highfield: Robert Bogue. David O’Hea tries, Darragh Masterson 2 pens, Colin Mahony con, pen.

Ards 7, Nenagh Ormond 5.
Ards eased their relegation worries with this win over Nenagh at Hamilton Park and ended any hopes the Tipperary side had of promotion.
Fergal Brislane scored a try for Nenagh.
Scorers Ards: S Young try, P Cox con.
Nenagh Ormond: Fergal Brislane try.

Sunday’s Well 13, Naas 19.
Sunday’s Well lost this crucial bottom of the table clash at Musgrave Park and will now have a battle on their hands to avoid a relegation battle.
The ‘Well played against a strong wind in the opening half and trailed 16-13 at half time. Despite being camped in the Naas half for most of the second half, they failed to turn their possession into scores.
Scorers Sunday’s Well: J Moynihan try, S O’Riordan 2 pens, con.
Naas: D Droney try, F Aherne 4 pens, con.
Sunday’s Well: B Hanrahan; I O’Regan, S Keohane, N Horgan, R Sullivan; A Dwyer, S O’Riordan; MJ Doyle, J Moynihan, J Bransfield; L Sullivan, M Kavanagh; D Blower, S Walsh, M Moynihan.
Replacements: F Whelan, J Sullivan, D Horgan, D Loftus, D White.
Naas: D Aherne; B Fitzgerald, E Conran, J Delaney, D Droney; R Campbell, D Ward; V Cuddihy, J Toland, A Shirley; G Rowan, D Benn; J Monaghan, a Kearney, P Monaghan.
Replacements: N Carson, C Finan, S Conneavy, R Williams, J Moran.

RESULTS:
Ulster Bank League Division 1A: Blackrock College 18, Old Belvedere 11;
Clontarf 32, Dolphin 23;
Lansdowne 17, Shannon 22;
St. Mary's College 13, Garryowen 12;
Young Munster 9, Cork Constitution 7;

Division 1B: Ballymena 17, Bruff 8;
Ballynahinch 22, Dungannon 22; Belfast Harlequins 19, Galwegians 13;
U.C.D. 15, Buccaneers 16;
U.L. Bohemian 8, U.C.C. 3;

Division 2A: City of Derry 22, D.L.S.P. 17;
Corinthians 14, Clonakilty 7;
Dublin University 18, Malone 11;
Midleton 10, Thomond 3;
Old Crescent 35, Instonians 0;
Old Wesley 13, Bective Rangers 21;
Seapoint 13, Queens University 12;
Terenure College 8, Greystones 6;

Division 2B: Ards 7, Nenagh Ormond 5;
Connemara 11, Navan 23;
NUIM Barnhall 25, Boyne 7;
Rainey Old Boys 15, City of Armagh 15;
Sligo 6, Cashel 18;
Sunday's Well 13, Naas 19;
Suttonians 5, Banbridge 33;
Wanderers 13, Highfield 21;