Stalemate Between Cork Con And Garryowen
Centre Alan Gaughan missed a late chance to secure a precious win for relegation-threatened Garryowen at Temple Hill on Saturday.
Alan Gaughan scored all of the Light Blues' points against Cork Constitution, but nudged a tricky injury-time penalty wide of the posts with the victory there for the taking.
Incredibly, this was the third draw between Cork Con and Garryowen in as many league games. There was another 11-11 stalemate at Dooradoyle in November, while the sides also played out a 6-6 draw in Limerick last January.
Saturday's result keeps Constitution level on points with table toppers Old Belvedere, but Garryowen are three points adrift at the bottom of the standings with just two rounds to go.
Cork Con played into the wind in the first half and hit the front in the fourth minute courtesy of a penalty from scrum half Gerry Hurley.
The Leesiders fielded an all-Munster centre partnership of Ivan Dineen and Scott Deasy, with Darragh Lyons returning at out-half and Robert Clune making his league debut on the right wing.
Former skipper Merle O'Connell made his first appearance of the season in the second row, and flanker Cathal O'Flaherty also started less than 24 hours after appearaing as a replacement for the Ireland Under-20s in Scotland.
Gaughan levelled with his first successful kick, six minutes later. Then, a clever back-line move out to the right and a final pass back inside from Ronan O'Mahony unleashed Gaughan for Garryowen's only try.
In what was a very entertaining clash, Deasy ran onto a kick through from Lyons to grab an unconverted score in the 31st minute, levelling the sides for half-time at 8-8.
With so much on the line, it was inevitable that the second half would descend into a forwards-dominated battle with defences very much on top. Scoring chances were few and far between.
A good surge from lock Brian Hayes drew an offside from the visitors, and Hurley converted the resulting penalty in the 57th minute.
Garryowen number 8 David Sherry was sin-binned, but Paul Cunningham's side bounced back when Gaughan fired over a 73rd minute penalty.
However, his shooting boots deserted him in the dying minutes when he was off-target with a penalty from near the left touchline.
Referee: Simon McDowell (IRFU)