Con coach hails ‘vital’ win over Clontarf
Walsh was pleased with the overall performance as Con ran out more convincing winners than the 26-18 scoreline suggests, the visitors scoring a fortuitous late try to put themselves in line for a losing bonus point. Bbut Richie Lane missed the difficult conversion with the last kick of the game.
“I was disappointed with the last five or six minutes but, coming off last week’s performance and against a previously unbeaten team, I’d have to be happy with the win,” he said.
“We’ve got a young side, a new side; I believe they’re plenty good enough but they have to believe they can go out and play. They did play today. You’ve got to give it everything to see how good you are, they did that and looked comfortable pretty much through the game.”
The loss, combined with a Friday night victory for Young Munster in the Limerick derby against Garryowen, means Clontarf have been unseated from their position at the top of the table, with the Clifford Park side taking over leadership thanks to a crucial try at Dooradoyle by Munster’s player-coach Mike Prendergast.
Disappointed Clontarf coach Andy Wood made no excuses and accepted that the better side won.
“The positive out of it I suppose was the way we battled on to the end and maybe we were a bit unfortunate not to get the bonus point in the end.
“We knew they [Constitution] would flood the first tackle area and they achieved that, they stopped our momentum and fair credit is due to them for that. They managed to disrupt a lot of what we were trying to do.”
Shannon remain third after securing a draw against champions Old Belvedere at Coonagh, Stephen Keogh’s side having to battle back from a 8-18 half-time deficit.
Constitution fill fourth ahead of St Mary’s College on points difference while Lansdowne moved up the table to fifth courtesy of a bonus point 38-21 win over Dolphin, who now find themselves in the relegation zone alongside Blackrock College.
The big battle of Division 1B was won by Buccaneers when they defeated Ballynahninch at Dubarry Park.
The visitors picked up a bonus point in the 17-24 defeat but Buccs edged into top position, leading their Ulster rivals by a single point.
Ballymena are third after an 11-11 draw with UCD at Eaton Park, while UL Bohemian moved into fourth following their comprehensive away victory over Bruff.
A bonus point 46-13 win for Queens University over Terenure put them top on points difference in Division 2A with DLSP were pushed into second despite winning 29-12 against Bective.
Similarly, Cashel move to first in Division 2B following a 51-3 rout of Boyne at Spafield. Rainey Old Boys had a 30-8 win over Wanderers but it wasn’t enough to keep them top.
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