The balance of this game swung in Wanderers' favour in the 39th minute when an extended brawl ended with DLSP's centre , Shane Stephans, being sent to the line by referee Sean Buggy in the Smithwicks-sponsored Old Belvedere Floodlit Cup at Anglesea Road last night.

It was pretty clear that Stephans was fingered out as the main instigator in a bout of rough play that involved over half the players on the field. Definitely, he deserved an early shower. But, so also did many others, especially Wanderers full-back Garret Halpin, who stood indicted in front of everyone because of his toe-to-toe flurry of punches with Stephans.

Stephans had scored a try in the 21st minute and although Wanderers led 18-7 when the outburst occurred, a Ronan Garvey try and the kicking of Dave O'Riordan meant that they were pegged back to 18-17 by the 61st minute.

With Stephans absent, DLSP wilted, while Halpin set up Wanderers' crucial try in the 68th minute for right wing Colin Leahy. Centre Paul Gleeson rubbed salt into DLSP's wounded pride with a late try converted by his captain, Marty Mahon.

Scorers: Wanderers: M Mahon try and conversion, C Leahy, P Gleeson, J O'Callaghan try each, E Olazabal 2 penalties and conversion; DLSP: R Garvey, S Stephans try each, D O'Riordan dropped goal and 2 conversions.

Wanderers: G Halpin; C Leahy, N Osbourne, P Gleeson, D Finnegan; E Olazabal, M Mahon; A Roberts, B Cantrell, D Hanlon, J O'Callaghan, T McGee, C Cronin, H Wallace, N Culleton. Replacement: K McDonnell for Cantrell (66 mins).

DLSP: R Garvey; J Corr, S Stephans, D McCabe, C Cadogan; D O'Riordan, N Byrne; K Condron, S Hayes, K O'Molloy, P Pfeiffer, K Wheelock, A Toher, J Lowe, P Werahiko. Replacements: S Tynan for Pfeiffer (28 mins), K Dempsey for Toher (65 mins).

Referee: S Buggy (ARLB).