Clogher Valley remained in pole position in 2C after their sixth bonus point win of the campaign, elsewhere big wins for Clonmel and Tullamore saw both gain ground in the bottom half of the standings.
Ballina (2T) 23-27 Clonmel (3T), Heffernan Park
Clonmel moved to fifth in the standings after Henry Buttimer’s try saw the Tippearary men edge their way past Ballina.
It was a closely fought opening half with Joseph O’Connot striking a penalty either side of efforts from Cody Chilcott and Darragh Whyte to level the score at 6-6 after half an hour. Before both broke for the interval momentum swung the way of Clonmel, Conor Hogan crossing the whitewash and the conversion by O’Connor made the score 13-6 at the break.
Ballina came out fighting straight from the off in the second half, Cian Quinn crossed after five minutes gone in the second half and the conversion from Whyte levelled proceedings. Whyte restored the lead for Ballina with another penalty but Clonmel hit a sucker punch when Conor Horan crossed for their second try minutes later, O’Connor added the extras and the lead was back with the visitors 20-16.
Mere minutes after Ballina were in again, Joe Murphy crossed after the hour mark and with momentum shifting as this contest ebbed and flowed, Ballina were ahead by three as Whyte stroked home the conversion. The deciding factor came minutes later with Buttimer getting over the line and O’Connor made his fifth successful kick of the day to score massive points for Clonmel.
Clogher Valley (4T) 29-15 Bangor (2T), The Cran
In their first Ulster battle of their inaugural AIL campaign, Clogher Valley were tested but came out winners against a persistent Bangor outfit.
Bangor started strong with a crossfield kick putting Craig Gilroy over in the corner for a 5-0 lead. Clogher hit back with a Paul Armstrong penalty, Gareth Millar did the same at the other end for an 8-3 lead. Soon after the half hour mark Clogher would take the lead, after a well won lineout, Ewan Haire found his brother Taine in space and he raced through to touch down, Armstrong making it 10-8 from the tee, the score that remained going into the break.
Four minutes into the second stanza, Clogher added their second try, Aaron Dunwoody spotting a gap to squeeze over their try of the contest. Armstrong added the conversion for a nine point margin. Karl Bothwell added the third try soon after, sprinting well over 30 metres to power his way over, the conversion went wide.
Clogher received a red card for a high tackle and with Bangor still battling away in the contest, they added a second try after the hour mark. Millar crossed the line and Rhys Larmour converted to cut the gap to 22-15. Bangor kept pressing to cut the gap further, it would not be however as Matthew Bothwell crossed for the hosts fourth try, putting insurance on their sixth consecutive win of the campaign.
Galwegians (3T) 22-13 Enniscorthy (1T), Crowley Park
Conor Joyce’s late try ensured Galwegians remained on the unbeaten path as they came out winners in a titanic clash with Enniscorthy out West.
With four minutes on the clock Finn Tracey crossed for the opening try in the contest and Tiernan Neville added the extras. Three minutes later Andrew Sherlock crossed the whitewash and the Galway side had the lead doubled with Neville’s conversion. Neville extended the lead further with a penalty, before stopping a try at the other end minutes later from Nick Doyle. Wegians had Neville binned before half time the lead remained 17-0 going into the interval.
Scorthy were playing much better as a strong breeze was powering their sails for the second period. Two Ben Kidd penalties cut the gap before Angelo Todisco powered over from close range and Adam Gethings conversion left four points between the teams. With five minutes left Joyce found room to dot from close range and that was the insurance Wegians needed.
Omagh Academicals (2T) 15-20 Bruff (2T), Thomas Mellon Playing Fields
Bruff strengthened their hold on a top four spot holding off a gallant Omagh Accies fightback to take four points back to Shannonside.
Scott Elliot gave the hosts an early lead from a penalty but soon after Bruff started to dictate the tempo. Two Paul Collins penalties put them ahead before Conor Fitzpatrick powered over their opening try. Collins converted and soon after that he converted Cillian Rea’s try giving Bruff a 20-3 cushion they managed to take to the break.
Omagh dictated the play for large spells of the second half with tries from Ryan Mitchell and Ben Henry bringing them right back into the contest. The latter converted by Elliot to cut the gap to five, the Treaty men were composed to not cough up further points as Omagh left disappointed not to snatch a comeback win.
Tullamore (4T) 32-26 Midleton (4T), Spollanstown
A late Scott McCabe try ensured Tullamore left Spollanstown with the points in a spellbinding contest with Midleton.
Midleton did get over quickly to build a lead Mark Corby crossing for the opening try of the contest with Fionn McGibney adding the extras. Tullamore soon did get a hold of the tempo, tries from Eoin O’Reilly and Conor Dunne putting them 14-7 ahead with Dunne converting both. Dunne made it a ten point gap with a penalty before Aaron Leahy crashed over under the posts to cut the gap to three with McGibney converting. A high tackle gave Dunne three more points as the lead was 20-14 at the break.
Into the second half Midleton had a penalty try awarded and the lead was back with the visitors for the first time since that opening try. Evan Donovan scored a crucial bonus point try soon after as the visitors started to build a lead. Tullamore finished strong however, Scott Milne restoring their lead following Dunne’s conversion, Sean McCabe ensured the result adding their bonus point crossing in the corner at the death.
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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.