All-Ireland League Division 2A: Round 4 Review

ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE DIVISION 2A: Saturday, October 27

ROUND 4 RESULTS –

Blackrock College 7 UL Bohemians 33, Stradbrook
Galwegians 0 Cashel 43, Crowley Park
Nenagh Ormond 32 Queen’s University 31, New Ormond Park
Old Crescent 17 Navan 20, Rosbrien
Highfield 29 Dolphin 12, Woodleigh Park (played on Friday)

Clubs are invited to post the best tries from their All-Ireland League fixtures on the club’s Twitter, Facebook or Instagram pages using the hashtag #AILTry and tag @irishrugby. The scorer of #AILTry of the Month will receive a voucher for €;250 and each of the monthly winners will be entered into the #AILTry of the Season competition.

UL Bohemians are yet to win at home in the new league season, but their away form has bagged them 10 of their 11 points so far. Number 8 Darragh O’Grady’s injury-time try registered the Red Robins’ bonus point as they ran out convincing 33-7 winners over Blackrock College, in an All-Ireland League Men’s and Women’s League double header at Stradbrook.

The sunny conditions and pristine pitch were to UL’s liking with winger Adrian Enright opening his account for this year with a brace, while Harry Fleming and James Ryan also touched down. Out-half Robbie Bourke kicked three conversions to take his season’s tally to 25 points, ahead of next Saturday’s trip to table toppers Navan.

The Meath men remain the only unbeaten team in the division after out-half Colm O’Reilly booted them to a tense 20-17 triumph over Old Crescent. The two teams that came up from Division 2B at the end of last season met at Rosbrien in windy and cold conditions, with Navan finishing off a perfect opening month with four wins from four.

Navan number 8 Conor Ryan hurtled onto a pass to score a 13th minute try from close range, supplemented four minutes later by centre Evan Dixon’s effort from his own kick through and full-back Paddy Fox’s offload. Both conversions were missed into a difficult wind, but O’Reilly was able to add the extras from out wide to prop Leigh Jackson’s maul try approaching half-time.

Having hardly fired a shot up to that point, Old Crescent were lifted by a penalty try and a yellow card to Navan scrum half Brian Haugh. In his absence, the hosts added a second try when their Argentinian number 8 Nahuel Dovalo crashed over from a five-metre scrum, cutting the gap to 17-12 at the break.

Crescent’s player-backs coach Brian Tuohy touched down five minutes into the second half, before the sin-bin period ran out. The experienced full-back’s unconverted try levelled things up at 17-all, but prop Eoin King, who was sprung from the visitors’ bench for his seasonal debut, helped to turn the tide in their favour.

Crescent lost a prop to the bin as the Navan scrum heaped the pressure on and O’Reilly stepped up to land a crucial 65th-minute penalty. Crescent threw everything they could at the Navan defence in the closing stages, yet despite losing centre Riaan van der Vyver to the bin, Navan held on to claim a very gritty win on the road.

Meanwhile, 17 unanswered points in the second half saw Highfield take the Cork derby spoils on Friday night with a 29-12 dismissal of Dolphin. Four penalties from Dolphin captain Daryl Foley raised hopes of an away victory at Woodleigh Park, but Tim Ryan’s men pushed clear during the final 40 minutes.

Highfield tallied up five tries in securing their third try-scoring bonus point of the campaign. Winger Paul Stack notched a brace of tries – taking his tally to four in four rounds – and there were singles from Miah Cronin, Shane O’Riordan and Luke Kingston. They face Munster opposition for the third round running when they visit Old Crescent next Saturday.

Nenagh Ormond made it back-to-back one-point wins with a thrilling 32-31 last-minute triumph over Queen’s University at Lisatunny. Dermot Dunne’s charges prevailed thanks to replacement Johnny Hayes’ try against the bast of the post in the dying seconds, with out-half Alex Ropeti supplying the match-winning conversion.

Ropeti was a key figure throughout for the Tipperary men, along with their scrum which earned a first half penalty try. Nenagh led 25-19 at the end of a first half which produced three tries each. Centres Patrick Scully, who crossed from a neat kick by Ropeti, and Willie Coffey both dotted down for the home side.

Although Queen’s went on to score five tries in all, Hayes and Ropeti, who finished with 10 points, had the final say for Nenagh who are up to sixth place ahead of next Friday’s derby trip to second-placed Cashel. The Spafield outfit served up a 43-0 beating to Galwegians at Crowley Park where replacement Josh Pickering grabbed two second half tries.

There were also tries from Kiwi full-back Jonty Rae, who has accumulated 41 points so far, Richard Kingston, Michael Casey, Darragh Lyons and James Newton as they overwhelmed ‘Wegians. The Galway side went close to scoring from an interception and a charged-down kick in the first half but struggled to contain the visitors and lost prop Ryan Lomas to a 54th-minute sin-binning.