Ballina climbed out of the bottom two places with a big win over Bruff as Omagh dropped down, while elsewhere it remained the same as Instonians made it 14 from 14.
Ballina 27-5 Bruff, Heffernan Park
Ballina picked up a huge win over Bruff that moves them off the bottom two places in the league table.
Jordan Mills touched down for the first try after ten minutes, they had looked to build an early advantage but Bruff managed a try of their own minutes later to tie the game at 5-5. Time ticked by but just four minutes from time Callum Quinn got over for their second try, the teenage fly-half Ben Matheson converted and Ballina had the momentum at the break, with Bruff temporarily down to 14 men.
Matheson split the posts with a penalty in the second half, we had waited for a score but after the penalty they finished well, Sean Hopkins added their third try before Ian West secured the bonus point.
Bangor 20-16 Clonmel, Upritchard Park
Bangor will be boosted having toppled Clonmel at the weekend with a strong second half getting them over the line.
Clonmel drew first blood after 12 minutes with scrum-half Alex Sheehan dotting over and Dylan Cadogan converted from the sideline for the full seven, Bangor got on the board with a penalty, before Mike Weir crossed for their opening try, Rhys Larmour putting them three ahead after nailing the conversion.
Cadogan landed a penalty on the stroke of half-time to tie the contest at the break, Weir went to the bin not long after the restart as Cadogan put Clonmel back ahead, Mark Widdowson got over under the posts for the hosts and Larmour swung another kick over as Bangor not held the lead.
Another penalty left a converted try between the teams, Bangor had a man sent to the bin late on for a high tackle, penalised for offside soon after Cadogan added another three, but they were unable to reduce the deficit further.
Instonians 66-0 Sundays Well, Shaws Bridge
Instonians ran riot on course to their 14th bonus point win of the season, notching ten tries in the high scoring win.
Mark Mairs struck after three minutes for a converted try as Jonathan Milliken converted, Schalk Van Der Merwe was next to cross making it 14-0, just after the half hour mark Anton Lupari sniped the third, Max Preston added the bonus point in the 38th minute, making it 26-0. Bevan Prinsloo got his try, having looked dangerous in that half to extend the hosts lead to 33-0.
Prinsloo was on the mark again just after the restart, Matt Keane with the hand off after a great run from deep allowed them the chance, Van Der Merwe kept the board ticking over after managing a brace of tries, Prinsloo completed his hat trick as the hosts moved out to lead 52-0, Ruairi O’Farrell crossed next after a bounce went his way to see him over, Prinsloo capped off the performance with his fourth try late on.
Skerries 30-15 Midleton, Holmpatrick
Skerries put in another strong performance to keep them inside the top four as Midleton are just two points off the dreaded bottom two places.
Oisin McKey got Skerries off to a great start with an unconverted try early on before Ronan Mulcahy landed a penalty score an 8-0 score line, Davey Goodman crossed for a second Skerries try which Mulcahy converted with an absolute beauty on the sideline, Midleton landed a late penalty to make it 15-3 at the break.
A converted try soon after the restart brought Midleton back within five of the hosts, Skerries got back on the board as Mulcahy struck another penalty, before Goodman crossed for his second try. At the death Peter O’Neill drove under the posts to make it a bonus point win.
Tullamore 34-13 Omagh Academicals, Spollanstown
Tullamore held onto second spot after a commanding result over Omagh Academicals.
The sides exchanged tries early on but a converted try from Tullamore had them in front, the visitors would strike a penalty and move ahead by a point, the Midlanders moved back ahead as Conor Dunne pointed to the posts and made no mistake landing the penalty for a 10-8 lead at the break.
Dunne would add another penalty to get early points on the board to start the second half, but Omagh came back and going over in the corner levelled matters. The hosts would finish with a furry to ensure they took the win, Sean McCabe went over followed by Dunne showing his scoring ability that wasn’t off the tee, before Jack Delahunt finished it off with another try at the death to take the bonus point.
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.