Instonians remain in the driving seat ahead of a week break in the men’s AIL, Tullamore and Skerries are leading the rest of the chasing pack to claw back the league leaders.
Ballina 15-29 Clonmel, Heffernan Park
Clonmel rose to fourth in the table after a hard fought win over Ballina, the visitors allowed Ballina back into the tie late on but did enough to take the victory.
After two early penalties Clonmel got their first try after 26 minutes with Jason Monua crossing over in the corner for an 11-0 lead after 26 minutes, Dylan Cadogan landed another penalty before Monua crossed again for his second for a 21-0 advantage before the break.
Into the second half Cadogan added three more points to their ever growing lead, before Ballina hit back with two unconverted tries, the game was back on for sure until Brian O’Dea crossed for their third in the 62nd minute. Liam Golden completed his hat trick for Ballina as he got in late on for a consolation try.
Bangor 17-30 Midleton, Upritchard Park
Midleton came back from the brink to defeat Bangor, in a powerful second half push coming from 17-3 down to take the win.
Bangor dominated the opening half but back came Midelton Mark Stanton, Gearoid Collins and Denis Broderick all contributing to tries, while Stuart Lee was accurate from the tee to see Bangor drop down to fifth, as Midelton sit just behind them trailing by a point.
Instonians 36-28 Bruff, Shaws Bridge
Instonians came from behind to defeat a valiant Bruff, keeping their unbeaten record alive for another week in 2C.
Bruff led early and were 14-0 ahead after two well taken tries, Neil Saulters reduced the arrears with a try before adding a second a short time later, the conversion missed as they tailed 14-12. Bruff would have three men sin binned but held the lead at the break.
The hosts started the second half stronger and some smart play saw Paul Pritchard go under the posts to give them a 19-14 lead. Bruff came back almost instantaneously to get their third converted try of the afternoon, back into a two point lead.
Rhys O’Donnell produced a moment of individual brilliance to get over for their bonus point try, as Stones went back ahead 24-21. They kept the heads up and minutes later Bevan Prinsloo extended the lead as their fifth try was converted for a 31-21 lead. The hosts finished strong with Zak Davidson adding a sixth try, Bruff got a late bonus point try to keep pressure on but the hosts would keep the heads late on.
Skerries 14-3 Omagh Academicals, Holmpatrick
Skerries remain third after grinding out a low scoring win over Omagh on home soil.
Paddy Finn crossed early for a try as Ronan Mulcahy converted for the only score of a tight opening half, Omagh replied with a penalty after the restart but Skerries notched a second try as captain kevin McGrath got over in the corner, with Mulcahy adding the extras as they controlled the half to take the points.
Tullamore 29-10 Sundays Well, Spollanstown
Tullamore hold second after another impressive showing against Sundays Well, the Munster side remaining in ninth looking for some boost in confidence.
Well got the game underway with an early penalty before Eoin Farrell crossed for a try, the conversion was good and a penalty helped them lead 10-3 at the break, into the second half Farell extended their lead to 15-3 with another try, they remained ahead with Conor Dunne and then Sean McCabe adding the bonus point as they both went over.
Well added a late score of their own to reduce the overall deficit, but Tullamore now aim to chip away at the seven point gap at the summit, as they want to stay in touch with the league leaders Instonians.
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.