Enniscorthy have edged out a nine point lead at the top of the Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division 2C, they overcame a tough Bangor side with a four point margin, while title rivals Skerries suffered a shock defeat on the road to bottom placed Sundays Well.
City of Derry 19-20 Midleton, Judge’s Road
Midleton left it late to defeat Derry 20-19 on the road this afternoon, Derry looked to have claimed the win before the visitors crossed late to claim the victory.
The tie was level 12-12 at half time, Ryan Lehane and Julian Power crossing for the important tries for the Cork club in the opening half.
Midleton crossed for a third try after the restart to go 17-12 ahead, a converted try midway through the half made it 19-17 late on for Derry, the Cork club dug deep and ground out a score at the death to take home the win.
Enniscorthy 29-25 Bangor, Alcast Park
Enniscorthy pushed out a nine point lead at the top of the table, after their tenth bonus point win of the season, overcoming Bangor 29-25 this afternoon.
Bangor had started the game on the front foot, a converted try and penalty making it a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, Scorthy replied with a try from a maul to reduce the gap to just five points, 10-5. David O’Dwyer added the second minutes later, with the conversion making it a 12-10 scoreline.
O’Dwyer added a second minutes later to push them into a seven point lead, 17-10. Bangor replied with a penalty to close the gap to four, as they were looking to come back into the tie. Nick Doyle for the bonus point with a well taken try, giving them a 24-13 lead.
Bangor managed to cross for their second try late in the second half, back to a four point game as we neared the end of the contest. James Doyle added a fifth try near the end but this was cancelled out as The Ulstermen slip to fourth in the table.
Omagh Academicals 6-8 Clonmel, Thomas Mellon Playing Fields
Clonmel had to grind out a tight low scoring contest with Omagh on the road this afternoon. Just two points could separate the teams in the end, a first win for the team sat ninth in the table.
Darren Cass landed a penalty in the first score of the day in the 15th minute, they worked hard in the opening half with Ian Cunningham crossing for the try in the 35th minute for an 8-0 lead. They were down to 14 men before the break after a yellow card, Omagh kicked the penalty that followed to make it 8-3 at half time.
In an uneventful second half Omagh landed another penalty after the restart, they attacked the Clonmel half for the remainder of the half but they held out for a huge first victory of the season.
Sundays Well 14-9 Skerries, Musgrave Park
Bottom placed Sundays Well produced a major shock this afternoon, as they overcame second placed Skerries 14-9 on Leeside. They trailed at the break but three penalties and a try have them the win.
Skerries started with early intent, Paul O’Loghlen adding an early penalty to give them a 3-0 lead. More attacking threat and heaps of pressure resulted in another O’Loghlen penalty to double their lead at 6-0, the lead they took to the break as O’Loghlen missed a late penalty.
Well added an early penalty just the restart to get back into the tie, they added another penalty to counter O’Loghlen adding a third kick. They crossed for an unconverted try before Well made no mistakes from another penalty late on to claim the win.
Tullamore 28-7 Bruff, Spollanstown
Tullamore are up to third place after a bonus point win over Bruff, the Offaly club commanded the tie from the off and looked in great shape all afternoon.
They took an 8-0 lead into the half time break, an early penalty and an unconverted try giving them a great opening half of rugby. After the restart they landed another penalty for an 11 point lead, before two further tries made it 23-0, as Bruff were left on the back foot.
Tullamore completed the bonus point with another well-worked try for a 28-0 lead, the Limerick club managed to get a consolation score late on as the referee awarded a penalty try, which they converted near the death.
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.