Home comfort as Dolphin deliver

BARRY KEESHAN’S hopes that Dolphin would show their true colours in the Ulster Bank League Division 1A with a run of home games are coming to fruition.

His side notched a second successive win at Musgrave Park on Saturday, coming from behind to dispatch Young Munster 26-20. Keeshan admitted his side were keen to make a point after a run of losses on the road in the first half of the campaign.

“We wanted to set the record straight” he said. “We were away for five of the seven games before Christmas and that put us under pressure.”

Keeshan is a regular matchwinner for Dolphin but it was his pack who took the plaudits this time; the power of the hosts’ scrum eked out two penalty tries and helped prompt yellow cards for Munsters’ Ger Flaherty and Liam Óg Murphy.

The first penalty try helped them stay in touch at half-time as Munsters led 13-7 via Flaherty’s try and the boot of Willie Staunton.

Mark Doyle’s converted try pushed Munsters out to 20-7, but another penalty try plus efforts from Eric Moloney and Munster flanker David O’Callaghan saw Dolphin secure an unlikely bonus point victory.

That was the fourth win of the campaign for Dolphin and drags them up to sixth, while Young Munster dropped to fourth after their second loss on the bounce.

Meanwhile, Frank Cogan got the response he wanted from his Clontarf teammates as they routed Old Belvedere 35-7 to roar back into Division 1A contention.

Following a anaemic performance in their 9-3 defeat by Dolphin last week, frustrated Cork native Cogan admitted: “We will have to do a lot better than that if we’re to stay in contention for this title.”

Having failed to muster much in terms of try-scoring chances against Dolphin, Clontarf will be pleased to have notched a bonus point with a Dublin derby demolition of out-of-sorts defending champions Old Belvedere.

Richie Lane kicked a few early goals before Clontarf cut loose, tries from backs Noel Reid and Killian Lett and another seven points from Lane pushing them out to 23-0. Sam Cronin and Belvedere’s Danny Riordan swapped tries, but another effort from promising Leinster out-half Reid rung up the bonus point for the hosts.

That saw Clontarf move back up to second, while Phil Werahiko’s Belvedere are now propping up the table, without a win in nine games.

Cork native Gavin Dunne showed his hometown compatriots Cork Constitution little compassion as his 11 points guided St Mary’s College to a 21-8 victory at Templeville Road on Saturday.

The former UCC out-half, now established at full-back for the Dubliners, added his haul to tries by Hugh Hogan and Damien Hall, helping to quell a second-half Con resurgence which arrived via Niall O’Driscoll’s try and a Gerry Hurley penalty.

Mary’s retain top spot as a result and have a three-point lead over Clontarf.

Lansdowne held Blackrock College scoreless in the second half as they powered their way to a nine-try, 55-13 derby victory at the Aviva Stadium.

Trailing 13-10 at the interval as Darragh Fitzpatrick converted his own try and added two penalties, Mike Ruddock’s youthful side delivered a superb second 40 minutes to run out 42-point winners and move into third.

Tries from Foster Horan and Jordi Murphy try kept Lansdowne in touch but they cut loose in the second period with John Cooney and Cian Aherne both dotting down twice and Neilus Keogh, Sean Carey and Alan Matthews also crossing.

Meanwhile, the two clubs at the bottom of the Division 1B table provided a rousing contest at Kilballyowen Park before Bruff emerged as 22-18 winners over a determined UCC side.

College led 12-3 at the break thanks to tries from Mike Linehan and Brian O’Callaghan, but the sin-binning of Willie Ryan proved crucial as Bruff notched two tries in his absence, from Paddy Clery and Mark Cosgrave.

Brian Kingston’s penalty levelled it at 15-15 but John Shine’s produced the match-winning try when he raced away after taking a tapped penalty.

Elsewhere, table toppers Ballynahinch got a second-half scare from UL Bohemians at Annacotty but they had done enough before the hosts’ late fightback to deserve a 20-16 victory.

Dungannon showed their class by thumping their Ulster rivals Ballymena by 39-13, while there was another high-scoring clash at Belfield where Ulster’s Neil McComb and Stuart Olding shared out four tries in a 39-22 victory for Belfast Harlequins.