Lansdowne Bag Bonus Point Against Dolphin
Dolphin’s second successive trip to Dublin ended in another defeat as Lansdowne enjoyed a bonus point win on the Aviva Stadium’s back pitch.
The sides' first Ulster Bank League meeting in four years turned into a try-fest as Lansdowne crossed the whitewash for five tries and Dolphin touched down three times in the second half.
Leinster's David Kearney set the ball rolling for Lansdowne with an early try and prop Jack O'Connell and centre Willie Walsh also touched down for a 21-0 interval lead.
The Corkmen suffered an early setback when hooker Andy O'Driscoll had to depart with a knee injury three minutes in, although he did return to action briefly.
Matters got worse for Steve Ford's charges when Kearney, younger brother of Ireland international Rob, crossed the try-line seven minutes in.
The opening score was expertly converted by out-half Craig Ronaldson, and even though Dolphin did their level best to run at the Lansdowne rearguard, they were helpless to prevent Lansdowne running in for two more converted tries from O'Connell and Walsh in the 19th and 37th minutes respectively.
This gave the headquarters side what seemed to be a quite comfortable 21-0 advantage heading into the second period, but Dolphin had other ideas.
They finally opened their account three minutes after the restart with a well-taken try by replacement scrum half Gary O'Keeffe on the left after good approach work by out-half Eamonn Mills.
Mills, who started in place of the injured Barry Keeshan, was on target with the subsequent conversion. He did likewise five minutes later following a second Dolphin try from powerful second row Chris Rowe.
Mike Ruddock's Lansdowne side now found themselves in a real dog-fight, but they soon settled down again thanks to an excellent penalty from the accurate Ronaldson.
This was just the breather that Lansdowne required, and they made sure of their five-point return with two more tries from Matt Healy and Neilus Keogh.
Dolphin battled right until the end, and they registered their third try of the game in injury-time through pacy centre Cian Bohane, but the hosts just had that little bit extra in the tank.
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU)