Quinn Kicks Cork Con To Home Win

These sides will meet in April's Ulster Bank Bateman Cup final and the Leesiders gained an early psychological advantage as out-half Darragh Lyons crossed for a 13th minute try, following good interplay between Gerry Hurley, Cathal O'Flaherty and John Ryan.

UCD had the backing of a strong wind in the opening half, but struggled to respond and Constitution captain Hurley added a 20-metre penalty.

The students managed to get off the mark before the break, courtesy of two successful place-kicks from number 10 James Thornton.

Thornton popped home his first penalty in the 29th minute after the hosts' hooker Andrew O'Driscoll was sin-binned for offside. His second three-pointer followed five minutes later.

As the weather deteriorated in the second period, scoring chances were few and far between and the game was largely fought out by the forwards over the remainder.

Scrum half Hurley had a 57th minute penalty chance that came back off a post, as UCD remained in the hunt at 8-6 down.

But Cork Con gained the upper hand again thanks to Chris Quinn's accuracy off the kicking tee.

He landed a 60-metre shot in the 64th minute – with his effort bouncing over off the crossbar – and sealed the result with a penalty from 50 metres in the dying minutes.

Overall, Tom Mulcahy's side deserved the win as their pack were clearly on top at scrum time and were very forceful with ball in hand.

The worsening conditions affected their ball retention in the closing 40 minutes, but Quinn stepped up as the match winner and this was a confidence-boosting result ahead of next week's trip to league leaders Clontarf.

Referee: Andy Brace (IRFU)