From a perilous position near the bottom, Cork Constitution continued their climb up the table at Temple Hill on Saturday - they are now fifth on points difference.

The match was a personal triumph for reserve winger Dave O'Brien, who grabbed a hat-trick of tries. But it was Conor Mahony's early second-half try which secured victory when helping to establish a 19-3 lead for the Cork side. They never looked back. Galwegians had a great start when Eric Elwood kicked a fourth-minute penalty, but tries from O'Brien and Frank Sheahan - one converted by Ronan O'Gara - gave Constitution a 12-3 half time lead.

Mahony's try was converted by O'Gara and O'Brien ran in for another converted try to establish a 26-3 lead.

Elwood scored a try in 65 minutes but O'Gara tacked on a penalty and then converted a third try from O'Brien before Mahony finished off the rout with his second try.

Cork Constitution: B Walsh; J Kiernan, J Kelly, C Mahony, D O'Brien; R O'Gara, B O'Meara; I Murray, F Sheahan, J O'Driscoll, K Murphy, D O'Callaghan, D Corkery, U O'Callaghan, J Cannaing. Replacements: P Soden for O'Driscoll (52 mins), J O'Driscoll for I Murray, R Sheehan for Murphy (both 63 mins), A Byrne for Kelly (64 mins), J Murray for Canning (68 mins).

Galwegians: A Reddan; H O'Toole, P Duignan, M Murphy, N Carolan; E Elwood, D Mescal; P Kay, D Lee, D Dobson, P Casserly, G Heaslip, J Casserly, J Charlie, B Gavin. Replacements: N Beatty for Reddan (40 mins), M Finlay for Dobson (42 mins), K Tierney for Lee (66 mins), D Reddan for Mescal (68 mins).

Referee: J-P Matheu (France).