City of Armagh climbed to top spot at the expense of Buccaneers, while Old Belvedere also gained ground with Highfield dropping to fourth after their entertaining encounter.
Old Belvedere 22-7 Highfield, Ollie Campbell Park
Old Belvedere are up to third in the table after a strong first half performance laid the foundations for a win over fourth placed Highfield.
Tries from Joe White, Calum Dowling and Peter O’Beirne build up their advantage in that first half display, David Wilkinson added two out of three conversions, into the second half he notched a penalty to further increase their lead, but the visitors could only reply through a Cian Bohane try that was converted by James Taylor.
UCC 10-19 Buccaneers, The Mardyke
Despite picking up points over UCC, Eddie O’Sullivans Buccs were knocked off top spot.
Buccaneers looked composed in the opening half as just a Daniel Squires penalty saw UCC make points in the half, tries from Shane Layden and Stephen Mannion had the visitors ahead 12-3 at the break.
Shane Jennings kept the visitors ahead after the restart, his try and Michael Hanley’s conversion put them in control, Aiden Brien crossed for UCC as Squires converted but it was a consolation as failed to notch another score for a losing bonus point.
City of Armagh 34-12 Banbridge, Palace Grounds
City of Armagh’s hopes of a title took another big boost this weekend as they were bonus point winners over struggling Banbridge in the Ulster derby.
Andrew Willis crossed after five minutes for a converted try before Michael McDonald increased the lead with a penalty, James Buller crossed in the corner for Banbridge and with five minutes left in the half Dave McCann added their second try, giving them a 12-10 lead at the break.
Sam Cunningham added a second Armagh try after the break and another McDonald penalty made the lead eight points for the hosts. They settled more into it and John Glasgow and Evin Crummie both added tries to finish the half with a flurry Crummie’s adding the bonus point.
St Mary’s College 20-27 Naas, Templeville Road
Naas got their fifth win of the season after a hard fought encounter with St Mary’s College.
Donal Conroy got over after four minutes for the opening score and the conversion gave them an ideal start, Richard Fahy replied however for Mary’s leaving two between them, it was an end to end opening half, Fionn Higgins extended the Naas lead with a try after 16 minutes, twenty minutes later Conor Hickey’s try made it a different story at the break, Naas ahead by two.
Matt Stapleton added the third Naas try six minutes into the second half but St Mary’s stayed with them and replied minutes later from the boot of Mick O’Gara. Seven minutes later Daniel Leane popped up to score a try that restored Mary’s lead as we passed the hour mark, the game had one final twist and it went the way of Naas, Henry Smith getting their bonus point try and minutes later Craig Ronaldson added a penalty to cap off the win.
Malone 17-17 Old Wesley, Gibson Park
Bottom placed Malone produced a strong second half turnaround but a late Wesley score saw them snatch a draw, one of the surprising results of the weekend.
Cronan Gleeson crossed in the opening half and Josh Miller converted the try while also adding a penalty that put Wesley ahead 10-0 by the break, Malone however staged a comeback, David Shanahan converted his own try before adding a penalty to level the game. He would next convert a try from Declan Moore but as it looked like they would win the tie, Dom Maclean crossed late on and Miller converted to snatch a draw.
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.