ALL IRELAND LEAGUE/Clontarf 47 Garryowen 18:THE APRIL 14th meeting of Clontarf and St Mary's College at Castle Avenue still looks likely to decide the destination of the Ulster Bank League Division 1A title following contrasting victories for the two leading clubs on Saturday.
Whereas Clontarf scored seven tries in securing a 47-18 success over Garryowen at Castle Avenue, St Mary’s had to rely on a late penalty to record a hard-fought 23-21 win against Cork Constitution.
The net result is that Clontarf lead the table by a point with two games remaining. Both clubs had reason to feel pleased. Clontarf on the basis that they picked up the bonus point and St Mary’s because they managed to dig out an away victory in a match they could so easily have lost.
While anything can happen between two evenly matched sides on Saturday week, Clontarf will hope that home advantage gives them an edge. They have a 100 per cent record at Castle Avenue.
Clontarf will appreciate that they must pick up on their overall performance against Garryowen. Despite the size of the victory, they were a long way short of their best for virtually all of the first half.
In fact, Clontarf were desperately holding on to a 7-6 advantage with half-time approaching. Apart from an opportunist try from centre Killian Lett, which saw him run over half the length of the field, they produced very little.
But the game changed dramatically in the six minutes before the interval. Initially, Clontarf were awarded a penalty try before out-half Noel Reid crossed near the corner.
With Richie Lane converting all three tries, they went in at the break with a very flattering 21-6 advantage and on their way to a big win. As the game became looser, four more tries followed for Clontarf in the second half.
Reid soon got his second from the best move of the match to make certain of the bonus point. Adrian D’Arcy crossed for two with fellow flanker Barry O’Mahony, the Clontarf captain, getting another.
The accurate Lane landed three of the conversions, while the young Garryowen side replied with two tries from centre Corey Hircock. Declan Cusack converted the first of them to add to his two first-half penalties.
Clontarf coach Andy Wood was happy with the result, if not his team’s performance for much of the first half. He said: “We made too many mistakes and they were stretching us defensively. But the tries before half-time settled us down. Once the game opened up, we did what we had to do.
“It sets it up perfectly for the St Mary’s match. I wasn’t surprised that they came back to win against Cork Con, they are a very good side. I definitely see the St Mary’s game as a 50/50 encounter. To be honest, it’s who turns up and who is more accurate on the day.”
CLONTARF: R Lane; M McGrath, K Lett, E Ryan, T McCoy; N Reid, D O’Meara; B Barclay, A Dundon, N Treston, B Reilly, J Chipman, A D’Arcy, B O’Mahony (capt), F Cogan. Replacements used: K Dorian, M Garvey, H Nolan, J Larby, D O’Shea.
GARRYOWEN: L Bourke; A O’Loughlin, C Hircock, D Cusack, R O’Mahony; F Lawlor, N Cronin; D Lavery, J Rael, P O’Shea, A Kennedy, D Sherry (capt), S Buckley, A Kavanagh, L Vaipulu. Replacements used: A Gaughan, A McMahon, K O’Gorman, B Cullinane.
Referee: D Phillips.
Weekend Results – Cork Constitution 21 St Mary’s College 23; Clontarf 47 Garryowen 18; Old Belvedere 31 Shannon 16; Landsdowne 44 Young Munster 18; Blackrock College 31 Dolphin 24.
St Mary's do just enough to stay in title chase
ST MARY’S COLLEGE showed tremendous character to keep their Ulster Bank League Division 1A title ambitions on track with a dramatic late 23-21 victory over Cork Constitution at Temple Hill.
After trailing for most of the game, they came good in the final 10 minutes with a try from centre Stephen Grissing. Fullback Gavin Dunne added the conversion and then struck a match-winning penalty four minutes from time.
Dunne’s goal kicking was a major factor as he kicked three penalties in all and converted a first-half try from prop Robert Sweeney. Cork Constitution managed three unconverted tries from Niall O’Driscoll (two) and James Ryan, while Gerry Hurley landed two penalties.
Any outside chance Young Munster had of catching the leading two sides disappeared when they were hammered 44-18 by Lansdowne on the back pitch at the Aviva Stadium. Lansdowne ran in six tries through Matt Healy (two), Jason Kelly, John Cooney, Cian Aherne and Craig Ronaldson.
They are now up to fourth in the table, three points behind Young Munster. It was a bad day from the Limerick clubs in the top division as Shannon went down to a 31-16 defeat in their relegation battle against bottom side Old Belvedere at Anglesea Road.
Old Belvedere’s second win in a row means that they now only trail Blackrock College and Shannon by a point and have a chance of avoiding relegation. Importantly, they picked up a bonus point with tries from Daniel Riordan, Jack Coman (two) and Dave Mongan.
So did Blackrock, who ended a recent disastrous run by defeating Dolphin 31-24 at Stradbrook. Marcus Walsh, Andrew Latham, Des Dillon and Dave Rowan got their tries.
Belfast Harlequins are still out in front in Division 1B following a dramatic 19-17 away victory over their Ulster rivals Ballymena. They are four points ahead of their nearest challengers UL Bohemians.
UL Bohs continued their recent impressive run by accounting for Galwegians 16-10 at Annacotty. The introduction of JJ Hanrahan as a substitute turned the game.
Hanrahan scored a try, converted it, and then added two penalties to give his side an important win. Dungannon are in third spot, two points behind UL Bohs with a game in hand, following a useful 25-16 away victory over Bruff.
Buccaneers beat UCC 43-22 at home to move into fourth position, while UCD upset Ballynahinch 25-12 at Belfield.
