#EnergiaAIL Men’s Division 1A: Round 7 Review

Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Divisions: Round 7 Results Round-Up

Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division 1A: Round 7 Highlights

Cork Con were trailing by nine points with half-an-hour remaining, and were in danger of suffering a fourth Energia All-Ireland League defeat in a row. However, last season’s beaten finalists used their experience to dig out a crucial bonus point win.

David Begley’s sin-binning proved costly for Young Munster, as Eoghan Smyth and Aidan Moynihan both crossed before number 8 Kelleher came up with two important turnovers late on.

It was a gutwrenching finish for Munsters, whose livewire winger Gilvarry took his season’s haul to eight tries. They earned two bonus points for their efforts, while Jonny Holland’s men have closed the gap on fifth-placed Ballynahinch to a single point.

Gilvarry’s fizzing fourth-minute opener and a second try, in the 32nd-minute, landed some sizeable blows for Cookies, who had Munster’s Josh Wycherley, Conor Bartley, and Evan O’Connell in their tight five.

Gilvarry drew a high tackle just past the half-hour mark, and the hosts used the penalty to press for their second try. Bailey Faloon threatened off the lineout, before Gilvarry swept around to finish off some slick passing from Luke McCready and Kelvin Langan.

Constitution had well-crafted converted scores from Peter Hyland (20 minutes) and excellent centre Smyth (36) during the first half, with the recently-returned Moynihan kicking seven points for a 17-12 half-time lead.

Approaching the interval, the visitors exploited some space on the right, a great pass from Smyth allowing Rob Hedderman to release Sean Condon on his wing. He made it up into the opposition 22, before finding Smyth on the inside to touch down.

This heavyweight Division 1A clash looked to be going Munsters’ way with Faloon burrowing over and Gilvarry completing his hat-trick from a superb interchange out wide – Shane O’Leary added both conversions – until Con had other ideas.

There was some daylight between these Munster rivals when Wycherley’s penalty at the breakdown got the Limerick men on the march, and the pace and passing skills of Shay McCarthy and Alex Flanagan Smith teed up Gilvarry to extend the lead.

Nonetheless, Cork Con’s bench helped with a timely momentum shift, and when Sean French hurtled onto a pass, prop Begley’s high tackle landed him in the sin bin.

Out-half Moynihan soon sniped over from captain David Hyland’s peach of an offload, before Adam Maher and French combined neatly to put Smyth charging away to score from the edge of Young Munster’s 22.

Moynihan’s conversion had the Leesiders leading by three points, and they held onto that narrow margin in determined fashion. The Cookies’ best hopes rested on a break that saw McCarthy and Jake O’Riordan dash downfield together, but Kelleher’s breakdown work saw Con resist.

Meanwhile, Gerry Hill fittingly scored a try as Old Belvedere lifted the Evan Hill Cup, a trophy named in memory of his triplet brother, Evan, who sadly passed away from a brain haemorrhage in September.

The Hill family have strong connections with both Old Belvedere and UCD, and second row Gerry crossed against his former team as ‘Belvo won 36-11 at Ollie Campbell Park to end their four-match losing run.

The students, impressive winners last time out against Young Munster, were 19 points in arrears by half-time. Andre Ryan raided over from a quick turnover in the sixth minute, with Jack Keating having gone close earlier on from his own kick through.

Old Belvedere captain Calum Dowling enjoyed a try-scoring return, romping over from the right wing with a tremendous burst past three defenders. Will McDonald then broke the line to send Hill over in the 21st minute.

UCD came more into it during the second quarter, yet Hugh O’Sullivan scampered over for ‘Belvo’s bonus point score from a quickly-taken penalty. Josh Ericson was introduced after the break, fresh from his Leinster senior debut late on against the Dragons.

A David Wilkinson penalty made it 29 unanswered points until a late flurry. Daniel Hurley (72 minutes) and Leinster’s Conor O’Tighearnaigh (79) got UCD off the mark, either side of Belvedere’s fifth try which was run in by Keating.

It was a special score for flying winger Keating – the 100th of his stellar All-Ireland League career – as he darted in behind the posts off the back of replacement James Dillon’s sidestepping run and offload.

Hurley had expertly spun out of a tackle for UCD’s opening try by that stage, and O’Tighearnaigh crashed in beside the posts to have the final say for Emmet MacMahon’s youngsters. The defeat means they have fallen back into the bottom two.

Elsewhere, St. Mary’s College remain a point clear at the summit thanks to their 49-15 success against bottom side Nenagh Ormond. Aaron O’Sullivan and Myles Carey both crossed the whitewash twice.

Mick O’Gara, Division 1A’s top points scorer, converted all seven of St. Mary’s tries to move onto 92 points for the campaign, while Munster’s Sean O’Brien marked his debut for Nenagh Ormond with a late five-pointer.

Nenagh narrowly missed out on taking an early lead at Templeville Road. Centres Willie Coffey and Angus Blackmore almost conjured up a brilliant breakaway try, kicking through twice but Blackmore ran out of pitch after trying to control the ball with his thigh.

O’Gara, who had missed a penalty chance, then linked up with Mark Fogarty on the left, the latter’s beautifully-timed pass sending O’Sullivan hurtling over for a 15th-minute opener.

O’Gara’s conversion from out wide was cancelled out by a Charlie O’Doherty penalty, but Mary’s motored clear to lead 28-3 at half-time. Carey crashed over from five metres out, following up on his initial break, and added a superb score on the half-hour mark.

Having retrieved a kick, full-back Fogarty’s sharp sidestep and immediate injection of pace saw him attack from deep inside the hosts’ 22. The supporting O’Sullivan made it up past halfway and fed Carey on his inside, with the centre cruising clear to dive in behind the posts.

Rob Gilsenan and Daniel Leane got in on the act either side of the interval. Carey and Fogarty set up the scrum half’s 33rd-minute bonus point effort, before the impressive Carey provided the assist for Leane to cross, six minutes into the second half.

O’Gara spun a skip pass out for Stephen Kennedy to claim try number six, and Carey offloaded out of a tackle for O’Sullivan to complete his brace. That was where the scoring stopped for Mary’s, with 25 minutes still to play.

In response, Nenagh’s resilient forwards got on the front foot, building pressure in the right areas of the field, and the strong-running Coffey got past two tackles to score in the 68th minute.

It was an encouraging finish to the game for Derek Corcoran’s charges, who capitalised on Ethan Baxter’s sin-binning to add a second try. O’Brien had little space to manoeuvre in, but slipped through along the left touchline to reach over in the corner.

On Castle Avenue’s all-weather pitch, Terenure College finished strongly but reigning champions Clontarf stood firm, emerging as 29-24 bonus point winners with captain Dylan Donnellan touching down early on in each half.

Two penalties from James Tarrant (65 and 70 minutes) steered Lansdowne to a hard-fought 18-10 victory over Ballynahinch, who narrowly missed out on a losing bonus point on the Aviva Stadium’s back pitch.

The game’s three tries were scored inside an action-packed opening 11 minutes. Lansdowne number 8 Hardus van Eeden scrambled his way over initially with a typically forceful carry.

Ulster out-half James Humphreys hung a cross-field kick out to the left for Aaron Sexton to respond for Ballynahinch. Jack Matthews soon picked up from a ruck, 12 metres out, and used a clever dummy to make it 12-7 to the fourth-placed hosts.

Into the second half, Ballynahinch lock Ryan Connolly was inches away from scoring under the posts following a barnstorming break. It was Harry O’Riordan’s last-ditch tackle which forced a knock-on.

It was left to the place-kickers to decide the outcome, Tarrant and Conor Rankin exchanging penalties before the latter’s impressive long-range strike, with 10 minutes remaining, had plenty to spare and turned out to be the match winner.

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