Clontarf continue to lead 1A after seven rounds ahead of Cork Con and Lansdowne. Terenure and Young Munster made ground towards fighting for fourth spot in the coming weeks.
Clontarf (3T) 30-26 Cork Constitution (4T), Castle Avenue
In the top of the table meeting in Castle Avenue, Clontarf remained unbeaten following a nervy finish to overcome Cork Con as Jack Murphy struck two late penalties to ensure victory.
James Taylor gave Con an early 5-0 lead, Tarf certainly hit back in emphatic circumstances, Dylan Donnellan, Tony Ryan and Ben Griffin crossing for tries with Conor Kelly adding all three conversions and a penalty for a 24-5 lead. Matthew Bowen added a try for Con before the break, Taylor converted and the score was 24-12 at the break.
Daniel Hurley added try number three for Con and Taylor reduced the margin to five early in the second half. Bowen added his second and secured the bonus for Con as the half wore on, Taylor putting the Cork side 26-24 ahead. Murphy would be the late difference in this one, two important penalties to keep Clontarf top of the pile.
Dublin University (0T) 3-17 Lansdowne (2T), College Park
Lansdowne picked up another important four points to keep within the race for the title, as Trinity fell to a seventh loss of the campaign.
Harry Colbert gave Trinity the lead early on with a penalty but that proved their only score in the contest. Stephen Madigan levelled matters from the tee minutes later and not long later he was on kicking duty once again to convert Sean Galvin’s try for a 10-3 lead, the score would remain the same at the break.
Into the second half and it was all Lansdowne still, with 15 left they mauled their way over Hardus van Eeden with the score and the conversion from Madigan left 14 between them at full-time.
Terenure College (8T) 57-8 Shannon (1T), Lakelands Park
Coming into the standings in fifth spot this week we have Terenure College who secured an empathic result over Shannon, eight tries enough to move them up in the table.
Shannon would take the lead on a cold afternoon in Lakelands, John O’Sullivan with a penalty. With 25 gone Terenure started to take control, Peter Sylvester added their opening try after 25 minutes, Colm de Buitléar, Alan Bennie and Harrison Brewer all added tries before the break, the bonus secured and with Callum Smith adding three from four conversions, the lead was 26-3 at the break.
Sylvester added his second on the 55 minute mark and Smith converted for a 30 point margin. Conor Phillips, Adam La Grue and Luke Clohessy all crossed to finish the result with Aran Egan converting all three. Shannon did notch a score in the half from a penalty try late on.
UCD (2T) 17-31 Ballynahinch (4T), Belfield
Hinch have a three point lead in fourth spot over the chasing pack following their bonus point win over UCD in Belfield.
Greg Jones gave the stags a 7-0 lead after 12 minutes with Conor Rankin converting his try. Rankin made it 10-0 shy of the break, UCD however through Michael Moloney’s penalty and Hugo O’Malley’s stoppage time try levelled the contest at the break.
Three minutes after the restart Bradley Luney went over and Rankin restored a seven point cushion between the teams. With eight minutes left Rankin went over himself and would convert the try for a 24-10 lead. Mark Hernan cut the gap for UCD with their second try, however Claytan Milligan added the bonus at the death to complete a strong result by the Ulster contingent.
Young Munster (4T) 32-17 City of Armagh (2T), Tom Clifford Park
Young Munster moved to sixth after consecutive wins has them five clear of the drop zone, the Cookies strong throughout the win over City of Armagh.
It certainly was a titanic tussle early in Tom Clifford Park with Brayden Laing and Shane O’Leary exchanging early penalties. Kegan Christian-Goss went over for the opening try of the contest, O’Leary added the extras and the Cookies were ahead 10-3 at the interval.
The hosts started the second half like they finished the first, Fintan Coleman launched under the posts and Fionn Gibbons dotted down with O’Leary converting both to lead 24-3. Armagh were awarded a penalty try to cut the gap down but Stephen McLoughlin went over from a maul to secure the bonus point. Tim McNiece added a second City of Armagh try to cut the gap to 29-17, O’Leary with his fifth successful kick of the day added three more to the board to cap the result.
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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.