Rampant Shannon outclass students

SHANNON took full advantage of the quiet weekend in the AIB League when they trounced UCD at Thomond Park and moved into third place in the first division.

Rampant Shannon ran in for eight tries while Andrew Thompson added to the total with a penalty and six conversions.

Thompson also contributed two tries on a day when Shannon could do no wrong and, despite the concession of three tries, this was no more than a stroll in the park.

Meanwhile, Ballymena’s refusal to budge on a change of kick-off time at Temple Hill may come back to haunt them.

In a bid to attract as many people as possible to this league game, Cork Constitution had suggested a switch of dates or times in order to afford fans the opportunity of watching Munster’s big televised Heineken Cup clash with Perpignan.

The Ulster club didn’t play ball on the issue, and didn’t play ball on the pitch either. A patch of the surface at the Temple Hill ground in the shadow of the stand was frozen over and referee Dave Tyndall called the game off because he deemed that part of the pitch unplayable.

Meanwhile, in division two, apart from the draw between leading candidates Dolphin and Old Crescent, Thomond squeezed through their game with Barnhall with a 15-14 victory thanks to the experienced Aidan O’Halloran, who knocked over five penalty goals.

Malone had an equally encouraging win at Musgrave Park when they came from nowhere to beat Sunday’s Well.

The home side led 21-3 at the break but were hit by injuries and Malone came back in injury time to score a match-winning try.

That win puts them in fourth place and, with games in hand, in a very strong position.

Bective Rangers were surprisingly eclipsed by Greystones and this was really all one-way traffic as the Wicklow side won comfortably by 21 points to three.

Midleton picked up a bonus point but will regret the concession of a late converted try to Young Munster, who are still in the hunt for promotion.

Craig Doyle was the hero of the hour for the visitors when he scorched in for a stoppage time try.

DLSP hauled themselves further away from the danger zone when they managed to win at home to UCC but the students did have the consolation of picking up a bonus point and remain the best placed of the Universities in this particular league.