Big three seal their play-off spots

ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE ROUND-UP:THE ALL-IRELAND League will come down to the final round of the regular season on April 19th to sort out who joins play-off regulars Cork Constitution, Shannon and Garryowen. Dolphin's postponed match against St Mary's has been pencilled in for next weekend and with their last game away to Cork Con, they are best placed to deny Dublin challengers Clontarf and Blackrock.

The big three secured their spots on Saturday with impressive victories over also-rans Galwegians, UCD and Old Belvedere.

Con and Shannon moved a step closer to home advantage with impressive away results.

Shannon, in particular, showed no mercy at the Belfield Bowl as they crushed the students 43-14, the Limerick footballer Stephen Kelly crossing for a hat-trick of tries.

Last year's beaten finalists, Cork Con, picked off two opportunist tries through Cronan Healy and Evan Ryan in a 13-5 win in Galway that leaves them four points clear of third-placed Garryowen. The latter outclassed Belvedere, running out 34-17 victors, Conan Doyle grabbing a brace of touchdowns.

Despite Belvedere resting Irish under-20 centre Eoin O'Malley, there was several young hopefuls on display at Anglesea Road, the Munster winger Keith Earls and the Leinster centre Felix Jones crossing for impressive individual tries.

Blackrock are four points adrift of Clontarf after beating their Dublin rivals 17-16 (for the second time in March as they knocked them out of the cup) in dramatic circumstances at Stradbrook with Ireland under-20 winger Shane Monahan claiming two tries, including the late and decisive score that completed a 16-point turnaround.

Rock host St Mary's in their final game of the season, where a four-try victory looks essential if they are to progress. Clontarf will also need to target the bonus point at home to Galwegians.

Down at the bottom of the table, Greystones missed a great chance to pull clear of danger when they conceded six tries at home to UL Bohemians in an emphatic 38-15 defeat that all but guarantees relegation.

They must now win down in Shannon on the last day of the campaign and also hope Lansdowne and Dungannon lose.

Lansdowne moved ahead of Greystones, but level on points, after a typically tense and scrappy 6-0 win over Dungannon at the RDS. Andrew Geraghty knocked over both penalties.

Dungannon need to beat Ballymena next, while Lansdowne travel to Lakelands - a fixture that becomes less daunting after Terenure secured their Division One status by overcoming Ballymena 14-12, thanks to three David McAllister penalties and a Kevin Mahony try.

All will be revealed on April 19th but for the next fortnight club attention switches to the AIB Cup, where Blackrock await the winners of next Saturday's rescheduled semi-final between Shannon and Galwegians at Crowley Park.

The final is on April 12th in Dubarry Park, Athlone.