AIL Roundup: Division 2B Round 5

Instonians streak continues in the AIL with a dramatic win over Wanderers, elsewhere Rainey Old Boys secured a first win of the campaign in emphatic circumstances.

Dungannon (2T) 15-15 Skerries (2T), Stevenson Park

A stalemate in Stevenson Park as a Dara Lowndes try converted by Ronan Mulcahy saw the spoils shared in a cagey encounter.

Ben McCaughey and Mulcahy converted a penalty each in the only scores for a large part of the opening half, both came inside four minutes of action and right at the end of the half a yellow for Skerries allowed Dungannon to get over, Andrew McGregor going over as McCaughey converted. 10-3 at the break in favour of the hosts.

14 minutes into the second half and Skerries were right back into the contest, Kevin McGrath touching down in the corner, a missed conversion left two between them. Six minutes later and Dungannon once again put a gap between the teams as Sean O’Hagan crossed for their second try. At the death Lowndes got over and Mulcahy kept his composure to split the posts to level with the conversion. 

Galway Corinthians (8T) 54-12 Belfast Harlequins (2T), Corinthian Park

Galway Corinthians produced an emphatic bonus point result on home soil to brush past Belfast Harlequins.

Matthew Devine gave the hosts the lead with the opening try before Sean Naughton converted for a 7-0 lead. Naughton would be busy for the remainder of the half, converting Mark Boyle and Max Holmes’ try for a 21-0 lead at the interval. 

Grellan Murray added the bonus point early in the second half and showed no signs of letting up. Naughton converted the try before crossing for his own try minutes later, a penalty try followed and the hosts were 40-0 ahead.

The game would see four further tries before the final whistle sounded, Tom Morris got the Belfast side on the board before Finn McNulty crossed for the hosts, Naughton converting once again. Tom McAllister added the second try soon after with Charlie Beattie adding the extras, the contest would be wrapped up by the hosts Murray crossing for his second right at the death, Naughton with his sixth conversion from seven attempts to cap a solid individual performance.

Rainey Old Boys (8T) 62-17 Dolphin (2T), Hatrick Park

Rainey cruised to their first win of the campaign over Dolphin which puts a gap between them and the drop zone.

Tries in the opening half from Adam Montgomery, Michael McCusker and Moli Faiva all converted by Scott McLean put Rainey ahead 21-0 by the interval and well in the driving seat. Tommy O’Hagan added the bonus point six minutes into the second half.

Dolphin got on the board through a penalty before Brian O’Mahony crossed for their opening try, cancelling out another for the hosts just prior to that Dolphin score that went unconverted, 33-10. Rainey kept the board ticking further in their favour, McLean struck a penalty before a brace of tries from Cormac Devlin and Faiva adding his second prevented any chances of a comeback by the Cork side. Fionn Herlihy added a second try for Dolphin but substitute Michael Nevin ran in at the death to cap off the nine try demolition.

Sligo (4T) 31-12 Malahide, Hamilton Park

Sligo got back to winning ways and moved back into the top four after a bonus point win in front of their Hamilton Park faithful.

Justin Leonard kicked Malahide into an early 3-0 lead and despite Tom Gormley crossing after 11 minutes and Euan Brown adding the extras, a second penalty from David O’Halloran left the score 7-6. Sligo’s powerful pack got over for their second try soon after and Brown added a conversion for a 14-6 lead. Gormley added another five with his second try before O’Halloran replied for the visitors, slotting his second penalty to leave it 19-9 at the break.

O’Halloran added three points to the board for the opening score of the second half and cut the gap by seven at the mid way mark. Sligo finished the contest in style Finn Bamber with a try converted by Brown and Brendan Cunningham scoring a try he would later convert capped off a strong performance.

Wanderers (5T) 38-39 Instonians (6T), Merrion Road

A late penalty from Ritchie McMaster proved the decisive score as Instonians kept their streak alive in a nail biter with Wanderers in the capital.

Instonians would grab the games opening try in a cagey start to proceedings in Merrion Road. Schalke Van Der Merwe crossed the whitewash, Matthew Keane however unable to add the full seven. Wanderers did manage to reply soon after and the touchline conversion put them narrowly in the lead.

The visitors replied well, Oli Clark crossed from a driving maul which Keane converted, a short time later, Rob Whitten produced the intercept after twenty minutes and dashed for the line and the visitors were 17-7 ahead following a missed conversion. Wanderers replied in swift fashion following Whitten taking a slice of cheese to the naughty step, powering over for their second converted try to cut the gap. The bonus point was secured at the break as Clarke bulldozed his way over and Keane landed the conversion for a 24-14 lead at the break.

Wanderers struck an early penalty after the restart to cut the gap to seven, just as it looked like momentum shifted to the hosts, it changed five minutes later. Ian Whitten powering his way over as Instonians put a 12 point gap between them. Two tries before the hour mark had Wanderers with a bonus point and also put them back into the lead.

The gap was pushed out to 38-29 as Wanderers powered over for yet another try, as it looked like the streak was over Jack Parkinson at the back of a lineout raced over for a try. Keane went to the bin minutes earlier and McMaster was tasked with the conversion to put two between them with five left.

A red card was shown to Wanderers as both teams now had 14 men left on the field. After some intense pressure from the Belfast side a penalty was awarded and McMaster slotted the points. 

More Info on Division 2B here