Terenure will meet Lansdowne and Cork Con will play Clontarf as the semi-final places were confirmed on the final day. At the bottom City of Armagh survived in 1A, while Shannon will need to go through the play-offs for a second year in a row if they are to remain in 1A.
Ballynahinch (3T) 15-34 Terenure College (4T), Ballymacarn Park
Terenure secured top spot in 1A with a hard earned win of Ballynahinch on the final day.
Nure started strong with Aran Egan crossing and converting the opening try of the contest. Egan furthered the lead to 10-0 with a penalty minutes later before Clayton Milligan crossed for Hinch after 22 minutes to get them on the board.
Four minutes later the sides were level as Bradley Lunney crossed for a try but the conversion again missed the mark. Terenure ended the half on top, Peter Sylvester with their second try and a conversion and penalty by Egan saw the visitors lead 20-10 at the interval.
Either side of the hour mark Nure secured their bonus point. Craig Adams and Sam Berman with the tries while Egan slotted both conversion attempts. Ryan Wilson added a consolation try for Hinch soon after.
City Of Armagh (4T) 24-40 Cork Constitution (6T), Palace Grounds
Despite defeat at home on the final day, City of Armagh are safe in 1A for another season as Shannon also suffered defeat on the final day. A bonus point seeing them finish one point clear while Con secured second place as a result of the win.
Con were impressive but had to work extremely hard to get their scores. While they added two early tries for a 14-0 lead, City Of Armagh hit them right back. James McCormick with an unconverted effort.
Con struck a third for a 21-5 lead while back came the hosts Lewis Finlay and Evin Crummie going over for the tries, Shea O’Brien landed a conversion for a 21-17 scoreline. Con remained on top for large parts of the second half, able to take their scores.
Two further tries but the Cork side were well clear before a penalty try gave Armagh points in the second half as well as a bonus point. Billy Crowley and Daniel Hurley crossed for a brace of tries in the contest for Con, Matthew Bowen and Billy Scannell with the rest while James Taylor converted five from six.
Clontarf (5T) 31-19 Dublin University (3T), Castle Avenue
Clontarf finished third place in 1A as they recorded a bonus success in their final game of the regular season.
Trinity started the better as Victor Allen and Juan Beukes both added ear;y tries and a Matthew Lynch conversion had them ahead 12-0. Tarf would soon turn the tie in their favour, Mark O’Sullivan reducing the deficit with their opening try converted by Conor Kelly.
A penalty try for a collapsed maul close to the Trinity line gave Tarf the lead and soon after they had a third try as Martin Moloney went over on half time, the try unconverted the lead 19-12 in their favour.
Into the second half and Tarf added their bonus point with Peter Maher over in the corner, Kelly slotting the extras on offer. Out the back of a maul Dylan Donnellan added try number five as Kelly made another successful kick. Jerry Cahir with a consolation try for Trinity converted by Lynch.
UCD (5T) 33-17 Shannon (2T), UCD Bowl
UCD following a strong opening half performance sent Shannon back to the relegation play-offs as they proved too strong for the Limerick side on the final day.
The hosts struck inside two minutes with Conor O’Tighearnaigh going over and James Tarrant converting. Mike Cooke got Shannon on the board with a penalty but soon after UCD took control.
Gerry Hill, Jack Boyle and Hugo O’Malley all crossed for tries converted by Tarrant as the hosts were 28-3 ahead at the interval.
Shannon kicked on in the second half, Jade Kriel and Josh Costello with tries converted by Cooke cut the deficit to 28-17. While Shannon had the momentum it would be halted when Ruairi Shields powered over for a fifth UCD try. Small margins seeing Shannon miss out on safety
Young Munster (4T) 24-29 Lansdowne (5T), Tom Clifford Park
Lansdowne had the ideal preparation for their semi-final as they had to work hard to overcome Young Munster in Limerick.
Donough Lawlor sniped an early try for the visitors but The Cookies hit back through Fionn Gibbons, neither side converting their tries due to the gale force winds. Tom Monaghan and Adam Boland would soon hit the break for Lansdowne bagging tries and Daniel McEvoy converted both. James Horrigan added a second Munsters try shy of the break and Tony Butler converted for a 19-12 score at the break.
Into the second half and Fionn Gibsons crossed to pull the gap to two points grabbing his second try of the contest. Again Lansdowne found that spark and soon had their bonus point secured when Peter Sullivan added their fourth and soon after Sean Galvin added the fifth. Harry Fleming grabbed a late try for two bonus points for the hosts as Butler landed the conversion.
Semi-final fixtures: Both 2.30pm kick-offs, Saturday, April 20
Terenure College (1st) v Lansdowne (4th), Lakelands Park
Cork Constitution (2nd) v Clontarf (3rd), Temple Hill,
Promotion/relegation play-off semi-final fixtures: Both 2.30pm kick-offs, Saturday, April 20
Shannon (9th, Div 1A) v Old Belvedere (4th, Div 1B), Thomond Park Back Pitch
Old Wesley (2nd, Div 1B) v Garryowen (3rd, Div 1B), Energia Park,
Diarmuid Kearney
Diarmuid Kearney is a freelance Sports Journalist based in Co Kerry. He has more than 5 years experience covering domestic and international soccer for different media organisations, while also working for local and national print and digital organisations covering GAA.