Skerries and Tullamore both secured wins in the race for promotion, while at the foot of the table Omagh Academicals and Ballina secured bonus point wins, as the relegation fight heats up.
Ballina (5T) 35-33 (5T) Sundays Well, Heffernan Park
Ballina remained outside the drop zone as they produced a late second half comeback to overcome Sundays Well.
Jordan Mills and Liam Golden both crossed early for the hosts, Darragh Whyte converting both for a 14-0 margin, Mike McCarthy sniped a try for the visitors but Ian West’s converted try made it 21-5 after 23 minutes.
Back came Well however with Eoin O’Sullivan and Finn Mac both crossing for the tries, the conversions good to see them trail 21-19 at the break. Well looked comfortable to start the second half, securing their bonus point as Jack McHenry crossed three minutes after the restart.
Dan O’Brien powered over next for the Cork side and with half an hour left it was all Well, leading 33-21, but the hosts were still in the tie as Bradley Nealon got their bonus point try in the 63rd minute.
Ruairi Geary was shown a yellow card for Well and as they had a man down, Ballina took full advantage, Calum Quinn crossing the whitewash for their fifth try, the conversion sailing over from Whyte enough to give them a big five points.
Bangor (2T) 17-40 (6T) Instonians, Upritchard Park
Instonians made it 16 bonus point wins in a row as they overcame 14-man Bangor on the road.
Robert Whitten got the visitors off to an early start with an unconverted try, but Bangor replied well off the tee to make it a two point game. After a red card was shown to Blair Morgan, Bangor were now in the Lion’s den.
Matthew Keane got under the posts as the visitors started to flex their muscle, Neil Saulters has been a try machine this season and he got in for the third try for a 19-3 lead at the break. Soon after the restart Schalk Van Der Merwe glided over for the bonus point try.
Further Tries from Rhys O’Donnell and Zak Davidson furthered Instoninas attacking exploits, while Bangor would grab two tries to keep them competitive.
Omagh Academicals (4T) 27-17 (1T) Midleton, Thomas Mellon Playing Fields
Omagh did enough to keep themselves within a point of safety following a bonus point win, but Ballina’s win has them still sweating in the final weeks.
It was a game that ultimately came down to try count, Omagh crossing four times to secure the crucial bonus point, Midleton only managing the one in the first half, but had a day at the office from the tee kicking four penalties, but despite Omagh’s lack of discipline at times they got the job done.
Skerries (5T) 30-17 (2T) Bruff, Holmpatrick
Skerries remained second as they edged promotion chasing Bruff with a bonus point win at Holmpatrick.
Bruff notched an early penalty through Paul Collins before Davey Goodman got the games opening try, Skerries would control the remainder of the opening half on the scoreboard at least, Ronan Mulcahy slotted a penalty before their second try was scored by James Downes with Mulcahy converting for a 15-3 half time lead.
Mulcahy bagged a try just after the restart as Skerries looked to have put the games to bed at this stage, however Bruff put the pressure on and Mark Fitzgerald got over, Collins converted to make it 20-10.
Skerries were quick to reply and got their bonus point as James Downes got over for the crucial score, Josh Ericcson added a fifth try in the dying embers to keep any late dramatic ending at bay, Pa Maher would add a late try for the visitors.
Tullamore (4T) 38-22 (3T) Clonmel, Mullingar RFC
Tullamore remained third after another impressive bonus point win on home soil, keeping pressure on Skerries.
The hosts struck first with a converted try before adding a penalty to increase their lead, Luke Hogan crossed for Clonmel and with his try converted by Albert Fronek the lead was three. Penalties followed as Tullamore added two to Clonmel’s one for a six point game.
Hogan bagged a second try just before the break and as Fronek converted they edged ahead to lead 17-16 at the break, into the second half and Tullamore raced ahead, two converted tries and a penalty left the scoreline 33-17 in their favour, Jason Monua added a third Clonmel try but the hosts fished in style to add a fourth try for their 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.