Instonians are 22 games unbeaten in their AIL history with another strong result in round four, Galway Corninthians remain in hot pursuit as do Wanderers who played out a sensational contest with Dungannon at the Aviva Stadium.
Dolphin (2T) 17-45 Galway Corinthians (7T), Musgrave Park
Under the Friday Night Lights in Musgrave Park, Galway Corinthians put in another statement result to take a third win of the season.
The contest was all the way of the visitors in the opening half, Harry Rogers and Max Holmes crossed early with Sean Naughton converting both for a 14-0 lead. Finn McNulty extended the lead to 19-0 following a third try, seven minutes from the break the hosts were awarded a penalty try and the gap at the break was 19-7.
Daryl Foley struck a penalty for the hosts to cut the gap to nine points three minutes into the second half, Corinthians in a flash completed their bonus point and ran in a fifth try minutes later, Mark Boyle crossed for the bonus and two minutes later McNulty was over again for a 31-10 lead.
Holmes and Rogers both added their second try each to continue the Galway outfits chokehold on the contest, Dolphin would score a consolation try at the death with James Vaughan crossing and Foley added the extras on offer.
Belfast Harlequins (4T) 30-30 Skerries (3T), Deramore Park
A late Ronan Mulcahy penalty shared the spoils at Deramore Park which was enough to see the hosts move into the top four in the standings.
Mulcahy gave the visitors an early lead but a big seven points from the hosts followed through Mark Glover and Charlie Beattie and they started to take control. A second soon arrived following a collapsed maul Conor Neary touched down and the lead was 12-3.
Harlequins added a third try to pull 14 points clear shy of the interval, we still had time for some more scorers Ross Halligan added a try and with Mulachy converting it was a big momentum swing by the hosts to close the gap to seven. Charlie Beattie’s kicking exploits however put the hosts 20-10 ahead at half time following a penalty.
Another Mulcahy closed Skerries in on their hosts and soon after the game was deadlocked, Kevin McGrath having space to touch down in the corner and Mulcahy continued his accuray to split the posts with the resulting conversion. The Belfast side delivered a sucker punch minutes later with their lineout maul driving over Joel Dundas awarded the try and Beattie slotted the extra two to regain their seven point cushion.
The Goats replied swiftly a 5m scrum gave them a chance at the line, Shane Hannon made no mistakes in driving over for their third try, Mulcahy levelling with the conversion. It was a battle of the kickers later on, Beattie restored the hosts lead with a penalty but after Ben Alexander saw red, Mulcahy kicked a crucial score to take the points back to Holmpatrick.
Instonians (8T) 52-19 Sligo (3T), Shaws Bridge
Death, Taxes and Instonians getting a bonus point win the AIL, 22 straight wins now for the Belfast side as they remain top of 2B.
With just three minutes elapsed on the clock Oli Clarke was over following a driving maul and Matthew Keane made it a seven point margin for the hosts. Following the concession of a penalty, Sligo were breached again, Clarke again from a driving maul and Keane from the touchline pushed the hosts 14-0 ahead with the conversion.
Sligo replied at the midway point of the half, Brendan Cunningham getting space to cross the whitewash and Euan Brown brought the gap back to seven. Rhys O’Donnell replied after some intense attack from Instonians saw Sligo under siege, the scrum half showing quick feet to cross. Keane put the home side 21-7 ahead but again the visitors were not backing down, Cunningham with his second and the conversion had the margin again back to seven.
Sligo lost Rob Tieran to the bin for a high tackle shy of the break and with the flanker still in the bin Insotnians had their fourth try. Numerical advantage aiding their powerful driving maul and this time Jack Parkinson was over four minutes after the restart. A fifth try soon followed with Ruauri O’Farrell getting over, Keane making it 33-14 after 54 minutes.
Four minutes later Ian Whitten was in for his first try in an Instonians jersey, Sligo had a mountain to climb in the final half hour, Martino Quiroga powered his way over to reduce the deficit but Instonains continued their impressive display. Ben Prinsloo added try number seven and a quick tap penalty from Rob Whitten capped off the result.
Malahide 28-22 Rainey Old Boys, Belvedere College Grounds
Malahide bounced back from their earlier round setback to claim a win over Rainey who showed great resilience to come from 20-6 down to almost snatch a result.
It was a cagey opening start to the contest with penalties the main scoring chances for both teams, Scott McLean with two for the visitors to put them 6-3 ahead but Malahide through Ryan McMahon scoring a converted try and another penalty pulled 13-6 clear by the interval.
Malahide continued to press on the gas into the second half with crossing for their second try. Rainey were 20-6 down but showed their resilient nature to hit back, Adam Montgomery powered over for their first try which McLean successfully converted.
Daniel O’Neill added a second try for the visitors and despite McLean with another penalty to bring his haul to 11, Malahide had a third try late in the half to hold onto the win, the losing bonus was important for Rainey however in the standings.
Wanderers (3T) 36-31 Dungannon (4T), Aviva Stadium
Wanderers held out against a resurgent Dungannon to take a third win of this campaign and remain in the early promotion race.
Dunagnnon did however start the brighter despite Ben McCaughey missing a penalty, he would soon convert a Jacob Clarke try for a 7-0 lead. Wanderers struck two penalties from David Fitzgibbon to cut the gap to one by the 20 minute mark but McCaughey made no error from a second penalty attempt for a 10-6 lead.
Wanderers would soon take advantage of the opening half, a quickly taken try from Adam McAuliffe replied to McCaughey’s penalty and with the conversion successful and a later penalty from Fitzgibbon, the hosts were ahead 16-10.
A penalty try and a slice of cheese to one of the Wanderers players had momentum back the way of the Ulster contingent, soon after however Wanderers breached again with McAuliffe over again and the lead was 23-17.
Certainly a pulsating contest at the Aviva Stadium, by the hour mark it was all the hosts, another Fitzgibbon penalty split the posts and following a third try with Popoai Finau powering over the lead was pushed out to 33-17.
Dungannon were not giving up however, Daniel Mikolajczyk and Sean O’Hagan both crossed for tries in the dying embers to potentially change the outcome later on but the hosts held their nerve to see out 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.