Ireland Club Team Lift Dalriada Cup In Cork

Referee Nick Cockburn passed the pitch playable after three pitch inspections following afternoon torrential rain that left pools of water on the Cork surface.

Ireland played with the wind in the opening half and young Lansdowne centre Mark Roche thought he was in for a try in the opening minute but knocked on over the line after he hacked on a loose ball inside the Scottish half.

Both sides were finding it difficult to hold onto the greasy ball and the Tom Tierney-coached hosts opened the scoring on 13 minutes.

A move involving Gerry Hurley, David Joyce and Stuart Morrow sent full-back Daniel Riordan in for a try in the corner, bursting through from outside the 22.

Joyce added a penalty from a scrum minutes later and the tricky Riordan – Old Belvedere's captain this season – was in for his second try in the 27th minute following good work from Joyce and Michael McGrath. Joyce converted for a 15-0 lead.

Riordan's elusive running from deep and out wide was too much for the Scottish defence to handle and the two-try back was a deserving Ulster Bank man-of-the-match award winner.

Peter Jericevich kicked a penalty for Scotland eight minutes before the interval, but that was cancelled out immediately by a Joyce three-pointer to leave the score 18-3 at half-time.

Ireland enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the second half despite playing into the wind and with the rain lashing down.

Cork Constitution scrum half and captain Hurley – playing at his own club ground – extended the Irish advantage with a fine try in the 49th minute, gathering the ball on the 10-metre line and finding a gap to score.

Ten minutes from time, replacement prop Declan Lavery scored Ireland's fourth try in the corner after they had disrupted a Scottish lineout inside their 22.

The result completed a clean sweep of victories for Ireland against Scottish opposition, following on from last week's triumphs by the men's, women's and Under-20 teams.

Referee: Nick Cockburn (England)