Instonians have made it ten from ten in 2C with another impressive bonus point win, while Tullamore lost ground to the leaders as Ballina picked up an impressive second win of the season.
Ballina 19-18 Tullamore, Heffernan Park
Ballian produced a major upset in 2C getting their second win in the competition managing to hold on in the dying seconds after Tullamore missed a late conversion to win the game.
Ben Matheson kicked the hosts into a 3-0 lead after ten minutes but 18 minutes later Tullamore centre Connor Dunne slotted over a penalty to level matters. Another Dunne penalty four minutes later put them ahead by three, but Ballina battled back and over went Calum Quin for the games opening try in the 36th minute, Matheson converted for a 10-6 lead at the break.
Nine minutes after the restart the young fly-half was again successful off the tee to put more of a gap between the sides, he followed it up with another kick to move Ballina 16-6 clear after 52 minutes. Tullamore were really up against it but a strong well worked move saw Barry Bracken power over under the posts for their opening try, Dunne added the extra two to reduce the deficit to 16-13 after 58 minutes.
Matheson missed a penalty on the hour mark but as the clock ticked down inside the final ten minutes, he landed a crucial score from another penalty to leave six between them, with the title race on their minds the Midlanders looked to find a late winning score, they crossed in the 78th minute to make it a one point game, but Dunne’s conversion felt the brunt of a strong breeze to miss the mark, as the Mayo men jump off the bottom of the table.
Bangor 10-11 Skerries, Upritchard Park
Skerries produced a second half masterclass aided by an injury time winning try by Peter O’Neill to keep them in the hunt for promotion.
It was all the home side in the opening half, Skerries feeling the full brunt of their lack of discipline to concede a penalty try in the early exchanges, they tried to come back but Bangor moved 10-0 clear with a penalty after 25 minutes and would take the lead to the interval as they looked comfortable.
A change of ends meant the win was now in Skerries favour and this gave Ronan Mulcahy the chance to get points off the tee, two perfect penalties reduced the deficit to four points midway in the half before O’Neill’s deciding score in injury time sealed the result.
Bruff 22-13 Midleton, Killballyowen Park
Bruff are just one point off the promotion places after a strong second half saw them put distance between the teams on Shannonside.
The visitors struck the opening blow with an early penalty, but Jack O’Grady replied quickly for the hosts with a try and after Paul Collins converted it moved them 7-3 ahead. John Cleary extended their lead with an unconverted try as the half was nearing its conclusion, but Midleton got over for a converted try to leave it 12-10 at the break.
Shortly after the restart Midleton would take a one point lead from the tee, the South Limerick natives responded well as Collins landed a penalty to restore their lead before Andrew O’Byrne crossed for the deciding score with Collin’s adding the extra two to ensure victory was on the cards
Instonians 50-0 Omagh Academicals, Shaws Bridge
Instonians continued their domination of 2C with another bonus point win extending their unbeaten run to ten games.
Driving Mauls and Neil Saulters go hand in hand and the hooker powerted over after 12 minutes for an early 5-0 lead, Omagh had a chance at point from a penalty minutes later but the effort hit the post and came back out, after going up the other end Paul Pritchard ran in for the second try round with Jonathan Milliken adding the extras for a 12-0 lead.
Just before the half hour mark Matthew Kilpatrick got over in the corner for their third try after Bevan Prinsloo made the initial drive to allow his teammate cross, conversion successful for a 19-0 lead, just before the break Pitchard gave them their tenth consecutive bonus point after another powerful drive but the conversion failed to move them further ahead as they went in 24-0 leaders at the break.
Immediately after the restart Stones put Accies under pressure and another Prinsloo drive saw him race down the wing before offloading to Daniel Keane to cross in the corner, Milliken pinpoint to move them 31-0 to the good, six minutes later Connor Gallagher showed his scoring capabilities to get over for another converted try as the Belfast natives were running riot.
They never took the foot off the gas and the Keane brothers combined for the seventh try with Daniel passing to Matt to drive home, the conversion missing but the scoring continued as captain Eoghan Murphy broke clear and ran half the length of the pitch for the eighth and final try.
Sundays Well 19-27 Clonmel, Musgrave Park
Clonmel have managed to hold on to their spot in the top four, after battling hard to defeat a dogged Sundays Well in Musgrave Park.
Fabien Loughrey put the hosts ahead after six minutes with a penalty in front of the posts, before four minutes later Shane Keevers crossed after a game of chase with Clonmel’s Dylan Cadogan for a lose ball shy of the line, Keevers got a toe to the ball and kicked it over the line to touch down for an 8-0 lead as Loughrey just missed the conversion.
Clonmel showed their status as a promotion contender to battle back withy Dan Hosek going over for their opening try which Cadogan converted reducing arrears to one point after 32 minutes, momentum stayed with them after a yellow for the hosts, Niall Campion went over for their second try as Cadogan added the extras for a 14-8 lead, Loughrey put over a penalty in injury time to make it a three point game at the interval 14-11.
Cadogan started the second half on a strong foot for Clonmel as he dissected the posts from a penalty to double their advantage, Loughrey cancelled out that penalty as he made no mistake with one of his own minutes later, the game was very well matched both sides going for score as Cadogan stepped up to again made it a six point game. Alex Sheehan crossed for a third Clonmel try just before the hour mark to put some distance between the teams with Cadogan’s conversion, making it 27-14. Well scored a fantastic team try four minutes later finished off by Josh Featherstone a cross-field kick by Harry McHenry allowed Keevers gather in space to pass for his teammate to cross the whitewash.
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.