#EnergiaAIL Men’s Division 1B: Player Rankings – Top Tens

The second half of the Energia All-Ireland League’s regular season kicks off on Saturday, and Old Wesley, helped by young full-back Tom Larke’s 110-point haul, are leading the charge for automatic promotion from Division 1B.

Before the Christmas break, Larke maintained his impressive form by scoring a try and kicking three conversions against Blackrock College to push through the century mark for the season so far.

The Old Wesley ace currently holds a considerable lead over Dublin University’s Matty Lynch (83 points) in the top scorer stakes, with Naas back Paddy Taylor (72) and City of Armagh out-half Owen O’Kane (70) completing the leading quartet.

Ahead of this weekend’s return fixtures, Instonians’ recent Ulster debutant Bradley McNamara (pictured below) and Dublin University flyer Noah Byrne are the division’s joint-top try scorers with eight each.

They are closely followed by another Ulster representative, Armagh hooker James McCormick, and Old Wesley captain Kieran O’Shea, who have both touched down seven times to date.

Livewire full-back McNamara, a key player for second-placed Instonians, is setting the standard in a number of the other individual categories in the Opta statistics, which are collected each week by Stats Perform.

The 24-year-old leads the way for running metres (1104), line breaks (13), and tackle breaks (52). His Inst player-coach Paul Pritchard is top of the pile for breakdown steals (14), as are captain David Whitten, for minutes played (716), and Bevan Prinsloo for offloads (14).

City of Armagh, who moved back up to fourth after beating Inst 23-17 in last week’s rescheduled match, have the division’s leading lineout operator in Josh ‘Hightower’ McKinley. He has registered 67 lineout takes and 16 steals across the opening nine rounds.

The Cork contingent is well represented by the Highfield trio of Conor Galvin, the top tackler with 164 tackles, Dave O’Connell, the only player to make over 100 ball carries, and Shane O’Riordan who has made 2397.3 metres from 73 kicks.

UCC back rower Dawid Nowak, the second leading tackler behind Galvin, has landed a division-high 18 dominant hits. He has been ever-present for the Cork students this season, racking up 712 match minutes.

ENERGIA ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE MEN’S DIVISION 1B – PLAYER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 9:

POINTS –

Tom Larke (Old Wesley) 110
Matty Lynch (Dublin University) 83
Paddy Taylor (Naas) 72
Owen O’Kane (City of Armagh) 70
Tim Corkery (Blackrock College) 57
Charlie O’Shea (UCC) 56
Shane O’Riordan (Highfield) 56
Bradley McNamara (Instonians) 40
Noah Byrne (Dublin University) 40
James McCormick (City of Armagh) 35
Josh Eagleson (Instonians) 35
Kieran O’Shea (Old Wesley) 35

TRIES –

Bradley McNamara (Instonians) 8
Noah Byrne (Dublin University) 8
James McCormick (City of Armagh) 7
Kieran O’Shea (Old Wesley) 7
Paddy Taylor (Naas) 6
Alex Wood (Garryowen) 5
Henry Walker (Queen’s University) 5
Noah Bell (City of Armagh) 5
Ben O’Connor (UCC) 4
Bevan Prinsloo (Instonians) 4
Charlie Sheridan (Naas) 4
Ciarán Mangan (Blackrock College) 4
Des Fitzgerald (Garryowen) 4
Donal Conroy (Naas) 4
Glen Faloon (City of Armagh) 4
Harry Waters (Blackrock College) 4
JJ O’Neill (Garryowen) 4
Kamil Nowak (UCC) 4
Oli Clark (Instonians) 4
Paidi Farrell (Old Wesley) 4
Tadhg Brophy (Naas) 4
Tom Larke (Old Wesley) 4

KICKING ACCURACY (Minimum five attempts) –

Ruairi O’Farrell (Instonians) 9 made/10 attempts – 90%
Paddy Taylor (Naas) 19/22 – 86%
Tom Larke (Old Wesley) 41/48 – 85%
Matty Lynch (Dublin University) 34/42 – 81%
Owen O’Kane (City of Armagh) 31/40 – 78%
Shane O’Riordan (Highfield) 21/28 – 75%
Charlie O’Shea (UCC) 21/29 – 72%
Tom Wood (Garryowen) 11/16 – 69%
Daniel Green (Queen’s University) 10/15 – 67%
Harry Murphy (UCC) 6/9 – 67%

SUCCESSFUL TACKLES –

Conor Galvin (Highfield) 164
Dawid Nowak (UCC) 131
Paul Pritchard (Instonians) 125
Des Fitzgerald (Garryowen) 122
James O’Loughlin (Naas) 121
Mark Lee (Instonians) 119
Henry Walker (Queen’s University) 111
Sean Dunne (UCC) 103
Stephen O’Shaughnessy (UCC) 102
Oisin Halpin (Naas) 98

DOMINANT TACKLES –

Dawid Nowak (UCC) 18
Des Fitzgerald (Garryowen) 17
Henry Walker (Queen’s University) 14
Conall Henchy (Dublin University) 12
Tom Davidson (Dublin University) 12
Conor Galvin (Highfield) 11
Mark Lee (Instonians) 10
Oisin Cooke (Garryowen) 10
Stephen O’Shaughnessy (UCC) 10
Dan Campbell (Old Wesley) 9
George Hadden (Garryowen) 9
Sean Dunne (UCC) 9

CARRIES –

Dave O’Connell (Highfield) 106
Bradley McNamara (Instonians) 97
Charlie Sheridan (Naas) 94
Ciarán Mangan (Blackrock College) 90
Tom Larke (Old Wesley) 89
Mark Dorgan (Highfield) 86
Mark Walsh (Dublin University) 85
Adam Deay (Naas) 82
Odhran Ring (Blackrock College) 79
Aidan Keane (Highfield) 78
John Glasgow (City of Armagh) 78

RUNNING METRES –

Bradley McNamara (Instonians) 1104
Charlie Sheridan (Naas) 972.2
Tom Larke (Old Wesley) 959.1
Donal Conroy (Naas) 731.3
Ciarán Mangan (Blackrock College) 706.9
Ben O’Connor (UCC) 684.6
David Whitten (Instonians) 650.4
Noah Byrne (Dublin University) 649.5
Barry Galvin (Blackrock College) 637.3
Fionn Rowsome (Garryowen) 637.2

KICKS –

Shane O’Riordan (Highfield) 73
Owen O’Kane (City of Armagh) 72
Charlie O’Shea (UCC) 69
Clark Logan (Queen’s University) 68
Niall Carroll (Old Wesley) 61
Oscar Cawley (Dublin University) 59
Matty Lynch (Dublin University) 57
Oliver Coffey (Blackrock College) 55
Nick Murray (City of Armagh) 54
Bradley McNamara (Instonians) 50
Chris Banon (Highfield) 50

KICKING METRES –

Shane O’Riordan (Highfield) 2397.3
Owen O’Kane (City of Armagh) 2152.2
Matty Lynch (Dublin University) 2111.2
Charlie O’Shea (UCC) 2063.2
Niall Carroll (Old Wesley) 1911.7
Bradley McNamara (Instonians) 1750.4
Lachlan Stewart (Garryowen) 1445.4
Clark Logan (Queen’s University) 1423
Oscar Cawley (Dublin University) 1347.8
Tom Wood (Garryowen) 1302.9

OFFLOADS –

Bevan Prinsloo (Instonians) 14
Tom Larke (Old Wesley) 14
Matty Lynch (Dublin University) 11
Paddy Taylor (Naas) 11
Tadhg Brophy (Naas) 11
Charlie Sheridan (Naas) 10
Gene O’Leary Kareem (UCC) 10
Ian Whitten (Instonians) 10
Adam Deay (Naas) 9
David Whitten (Instonians) 9
Hugo Ellerby (Instonians) 9
Oliver Coffey (Blackrock College) 9

LINE BREAKS –

Bradley McNamara (Instonians) 13
Charlie Sheridan (Naas) 12
Donal Conroy (Naas) 12
Noah Byrne (Dublin University) 11
Ciarán Mangan (Blackrock College) 10
Paidi Farrell (Old Wesley) 10
Fionn Rowsome (Garryowen) 9
Tom Larke (Old Wesley) 9
Bevan Prinsloo (Instonians) 8
Hugo Ellerby (Instonians) 8
Neville O’Leary (UCC) 8
Nicky Greene (Highfield) 8
Tom Monaghan (Naas) 8

TACKLE BREAKS –

Bradley McNamara (Instonians) 52
Charlie Sheridan (Naas) 46
Tom Larke (Old Wesley) 40
Tim Corkery (Blackrock College) 31
Barry Galvin (Blackrock College) 28
Bevan Prinsloo (Instonians) 28
Ciarán Mangan (Blackrock College) 26
Gene O’Leary Kareem (UCC) 26
Jack Delaney (Garryowen) 26
David Whitten (Instonians) 25
Fionn Rowsome (Garryowen) 25
Henry Walker (Queen’s University) 25
Paidi Farrell (Old Wesley) 25

BREAKDOWN STEALS –

Paul Pritchard (Instonians) 14
John Glasgow (City of Armagh) 11
Eoin Deegan (Old Wesley) 6
Josh Stevens (Queen’s University) 6
Kevin Jackson (Dublin University) 6
Curtis Pollock (City of Armagh) 5
Stephen O’Shaughnessy (UCC) 5
Brad Clements (Naas) 4
Cathal Kelly (Old Wesley) 4
David Whitten (Instonians) 4
Ian Whitten (Instonians) 4
Inigo Cruise O’Brien (Blackrock College) 4
James O’Loughlin (Naas) 4
Mark Walsh (Dublin University) 4
Tyrese Abolarin (Queen’s University) 4

LINEOUT TAKES –

Josh McKinley (City of Armagh) 67
Dave O’Connell (Highfield) 47
Oisin Halpin (Naas) 33
Sam O’Sullivan (UCC) 33
Finn McCall (Garryowen) 31
David Whitten (Instonians) 30
John Glasgow (City of Armagh) 30
Kevin Jackson (Dublin University) 30
Mark Lee (Instonians) 28
James O’Loughlin (Naas) 24

LINEOUT STEALS –

Josh McKinley (City of Armagh) 16
Jason Aherne (UCC) 9
Oisin Halpin (Naas) 8
Dave O’Connell (Highfield) 7
Kevin Jackson (Dublin University) 6
David Whitten (Instonians) 5
Eoin Keating (Highfield) 5
Inigo Cruise O’Brien (Blackrock College) 5
James O’Loughlin (Naas) 5
Joe Hopes (Queen’s University) 4
Roy Whelan (Blackrock College) 4
Shane Cawley (Old Wesley) 4
Thomas Dougan (City of Armagh) 4

MINUTES PLAYED –

David Whitten (Instonians) 716
Charlie Sheridan (Naas) 715
Mark Walsh (Dublin University) 715
Tadhg Brophy (Naas) 715
Josh McKinley (City of Armagh) 714
Dawid Nowak (UCC) 712
Matty Lynch (Dublin University) 705
Artur Smykovskiy (Dublin University) 703
James O’Loughlin (Naas) 701
Danny McCarthy (UCC) 700

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