Lansdowne 29 Terenure College 5
Lansdowne pushed three points clear at the top of Division 1A of the Ulster bank League following a 29-5 bonus point win over Terenure College.
Mike Ruddock’s men now stand as the only team yet to taste defeat after the opening two rounds. Terenure, meanwhile, lie bottom of the table after their second defeat.
Running out on the main pitch at the Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne quickly established control of the scrum through their powerful frontrow of Peter Dooley, Tyrone Moran and captain Ian Prendiville.
The Terenure scrum coughed up three penalties inside the opening 24 minutes and with their loosehead Kieran Moloney in the sin-bin on the half hour mark, Lansdowne duly forced a penalty try. Scott Deasy converted to add to his earlier penalty, giving the hosts a 10-0 interval advantage.
Defences were on top for much of the second period, however the 2015 champions strung together three tries in the final quarter to claim their second bonus point of the campaign.
Number eight Max Deegan, returning to league action after his Ireland Under-20 heroics in the summer, crossed the whitewash as did frontrowers Ntinga Mpiko and Dooley. Terenure salvaged some pride with an injury-time effort from centre Conor Finn.
LANSDOWNE: Eamonn Mills; Charlie McMickan, Mark Roche, Tom Daly, Daniel McEvoy; Scott Deasy, Alan Bennie; Peter Dooley, Tyrone Moran, Ian Prendiville (capt); Josh O'Rourke, Stephen Gardiner; Joe McSwiney, Willie Earle, Max Deegan.
Replacements: Tadgh McElroy, Ntinga Mpiko, Jack O'Sullivan, Matthew D'Arcy, Jake Howlett.
TERENURE COLLEGE: Ian Hanly; Jake Swaine, Conor Finn, James O'Donoghue, Sam Coghlan Murray; Marc Hiney, Mark O'Neill; Kieran Moloney, Adam Clerkin, Oisin Heffernan; Cathal Deans, John Dever; Robert Duke, James O'Neill, Kyle McCoy (capt).
Replacements: Robbie Smyth, Gary Hamilton, Eoin Joyce, Thomas Burke, Robbie Murphy.
Cork Constitution 15 Young Munster 37
Munster backrower Robin Copeland touched down twice as Young Munster roared their way to a 37-15 bonus-point success at Cork Constitution.
Gaining some revenge for last April’s semi-final defeat at Temple Hill, blindside Copeland’s try on the stroke of half-time had the Cookies leading 13-10.
In a slow-burning first half, a Tomás Quinlan penalty had put Cork Con on course for a 10-0 lead. Ireland Under-20 winger Shane Daly, playing at fullback, crossed in the 20th minute following a smashing break from Cian Barry.
However, Munsters, who brought two busloads of vocal supporters to the game, snapped back with successive penalties from winger David O’Mahony after 23 and 27 minutes.
Copeland’s first score, coupled with a penalty try, saw the visitors seize control up front and they were 25-10 to the good before the elusive Daly hit back for Con with his second try in the 63rd minute.
Having been beaten at home by Old Belvedere in a 71-point thriller last week, the Limerick men were determined to make amends on Leeside, and further tries from replacement Alan Kennedy and Copeland sealed their five-point return.
CORK CONSTITUTION: Shane Daly; Liam O'Connell, Ned Hodson, Niall Kenneally (capt), Rob Jermyn; Tomás Quinlan, John Poland; Gavin Duffy, Max Abbott, Ger Sweeney; Brian Hayes, Conor Kindregan; Graeme Lawler, James Murphy, Evan Mintern.
Replacements: Liam O'Connor, Rory Burke, Sonny Dwyer, Jason Higgins, Cian Barry.
YOUNG MUNSTER: Alan Tynan; David O'Mahony, Calvin Nash, Mark Doyle, Jack Harrington; Abrie Griesel, Rob Guerin; Gavin Ryan, Ger Slattery, Colm Skehan; Alan Ross, Michael Madden; Robin Copeland, Dan Walsh, Sean Rennison.
Replacements: Peter Meyer, Evan Ryan, Alan Kennedy, Elie Mundu, Scott Allen.
Old Belvedere 11 Garryowen 13
Much-fancied Old Belvedere fell to defeat at the hands of Garryowen in a closely-fought contest at Anglesea Road.
Centre Andrew O’Byrne’s 25th-minute try, converted by captain Neil Cronin, gave the Light Blues a 7-5 lead for half-time.
Shane McDonald, who deputised for the absent Daniel Riordan at fullback, had responded for Belvo just before the break, running in his third try in the space of a week.
A well-struck penalty from number 10 Willie Staunton, five minutes into the second half, should have seen the Dubliners push on, but Garryowen, back-boned by a superb defensive performance, had the measure of them in the end.
Cronin and Staunton swapped penalties before the former drilled over the match-winning three-pointer with little over ten minutes remaining.
The result saw Garryowen get one over on their former head coach Paul Cunningham who fielded three ex-Light Blues in the Belvo pack – front rowers Ed Rossiter and Declan Lavery and newly-signed number eight Dave Sherry.
OLD BELVEDERE: Shane McDonald; Seán Coughlan, Ben Woods, John Kennedy (capt), David Brandon; Willie Staunton, Aaron Sheehan; Adam Howard, Ed Rossiter, Declan Lavery; Jack Kelly, Karl Miller; Michael Oyuga, Paul Pritchard, Dave Sherry.
Replacements: Cathal O'Flynn, Jonathan Inglis, Tom de Jongh, Robert Cruess Callaghan, Charlie Rock.
GARRYOWEN: Liam Coombes; Steve McMahon, Andrew O'Byrne, Joey Purcell, Peadar Collins; Jamie Gavin, Neil Cronin (capt); Niall Horan, Eamon Costello, Mike O'Donnell; Bailey Faloon, Seán O'Connor; Johnny Keane, Elliot Fitzgerald, Dara Shanahan.
Replacements: Caolan Moloney, Jack Mullany, Dave McCarthy, Hugh O'Brien-Cunningham, Ronan O'Halloran.
Clontarf 20 St Mary’s College 23
St Mary’s claimed the scalp of defending Division 1A champions Clontarf with a fine 23-20 win at Castle Avenue on Saturday.
Young outhalf Seán Kearns played a leading role once again for Mary’s, completing his 13-point kicking haul with the decisive penalty in the 77th minute.
The visitors gave starts to flanker Caelan Doris, who captained the Ireland Under-18 Schools team last season, and ex-Trinity centre and skipper Paddy Lavelle, while Ireland Sevens international Terry Kennedy made the move to fullback.
Kearns converted tries from tighthead and captain Brian McGovern and scrumhalf Paddy O’Driscoll to give Jamie Cornett’s side a hard-earned 17-12 interval lead.
In what was a forwards-dominated encounter, O’Driscoll was the only back to cross the whitewash with Tarf’s three touchdowns coming from props Vakh Abdaladze and Royce Burke Flynn and hard-carrying number eight Tony Ryan.
Ryan’s score, coupled with a Rob Keogh penalty in the 74th minute, saw the title holders square things up at 20-all, but Kearns’s right boot guided Mary’s to their first victory of the league campaign.
CLONTARF: Rob Keogh; Rob McGrath, Conor O'Brien, Matt D'Arcy, Michael Brown; Evan Ryan, Dermot O'Meara; Vakh Abdaladze, Jonathan Larbery, Royce Burke Flynn; Ben Reilly (capt), Eoghan Browne; Michael Noone, Karl Moran, Anthony Ryan.
Replacements: Rory Litchfield, Neil Reilly, David Moore, Peter du Toit, Jack Power.
ST MARY'S COLLEGE: Terry Kennedy; Ian O'Neill, Paddy Lavelle, Ivan Dineen, Ryan O'Loughlin; Seán Kearns, Paddy O'Driscoll; Tom O'Reilly, Hugo Kean, Brian McGovern (capt); Ciaran Ruddock, Cathal O'Flaherty; Caelan Doris, David Aspil, Nick McCarthy.
Replacements: Richard Halpin, Emmet Ferron, Ian Cullinane, Mark Fogarty, Zach O'Hagan.
Dublin University 13 UCD 23
UCD opened their win account in Division 1A for this season by overcoming fierce rivals Trinity.
In front of a large crowd at College Park, outhalf Tom Foley (13 points) and try-scoring number eight Peadar Timmins were two key men for Andy Skehan’s victors.
Wingers Adam Byrne and Barry Daly bolstered UCD’s Leinster contingent, and it was Daly’s brilliant surge through the heart of the hosts’ defence that led to Timmins’s ninth-minute score.
Foley, a key figure for Cistercian College Roscrea in their Leinster Schools Senior Cup triumph in 2015, converted and added a penalty soon after for 10-0.
A Jack McDermott penalty, 25 minutes in, got Dublin University up and running, and although an extended spell of pressure saw McDermott split the posts again, two more penalties from the assured Foley had UCD 16-6 ahead at the interval.
Trinity’s Ireland Under-19 fullback Colm Hogan notched a terrific individual try in the 53rd minute to set up a nail-biting finish. Hogan cleverly chipped over the top and won the race to the bouncing ball, with McDermott’s kick making it 16-13.
McDermott missed a 71st-minute penalty from a tricky angle and Foley was also wide at the other end, as the tension increased both on the pitch and off it.
It was UCD who had the final say thanks to their captain Jamie Glynn, who came on as a replacement for Leinster scrumhalf Nick McCarthy. Glynn finished off a prolonged attack with a try under the posts, converted by Foley for a 10-point winning margin.
DUBLIN UNIVERSITY: Colm Hogan; Bryan Mollen, Michael Courtney, Kyle Dixon, Evan Dixon; Jack McDermott, Rowan Osborne; Eric O'Sullivan, Paddy Finlay, Andrew Keating; Cian O'Dwyer, Jack Burke (capt); Sam Pim, Ross Todd, Pierce Dargan.
Replacements: James O'Donovan, Daniel Joyce, Liam Cronin, Fintan Murphy, Dermot O'Flynn.
UCD: Hugo Keenan; Adam Byrne, Stephen Murphy (capt), Jimmy O'Brien, Barry Daly; Tom Foley, Nick McCarthy; Andrew Porter, Seán McNulty, Jeremy Loughman; Emmet MacMahon, James Ryan; Greg Jones, Will Connors, Peadar Timmins.
Replacements: Gordon Frayne, Liam Hyland, Jack Regan, Jamie Glynn, Tom Fletcher.
