Paulie shines but Con grab points

Paul O’Connell took another big step in his bid to be fit in time for Munster’s Heineken Cup quarter final against Harlequins.

The Munster second-row played his first 80 minutes of rugby since October in Young Munster’s defeat by Cork Constitution on Saturday. Alex Ryan crossed for a try for Con deep into injury-time to hand his side a slender 10-9 victory.

O’Connell put in an excellent performance following his return to action midweek for Munster A and was a commanding force throughout. After claiming 10 line-outs, O’Connell brilliantly stole an injury time Constitution line-out when Young Munster were defending five metres out. But after the attempted kick to touch was blocked down, Ryan found a gap in the defence to force his way over in the corner.

Despite the result, O’Connell was upbeat about his progress: “I felt very sluggish at the start but in the second-half I got going. There were a lot of scrums and line-outs and those things really do test the back; it was great from that point of view.”

He said he was confident of being fit for the quarter-final, while he hopes to feature for Munster in their two Rabo Direct games before the trip to The Stoop: “I know Donnacha Ryan is carrying a few injuries so he might need a bit of time off. Hopefully when he comes back I can get in there and get some game time. It’s three weeks now until Harlequins and it’s possible to do it. If we were closer to that game, it’s not something we’d be doing because you’d be draining the energy. But this is the time to do it and I’ll have plenty of time to recover.”

Elsewhere, the Ulster Bank league leaders Lansdowne stayed firmly on course to claim the title after they collected a bonus point victory over St. Mary’s College. Lansdowne ran out comfortable 35-6 winners at the Aviva Stadium.

Second placed Clontarf easily saw off the challenge of bottom side UL Bohemians with a 47-7 victory as winger Michael McGrath ran in two of his side’s tries.

The defeat for Bohs sees the Limerick side rooted to the foot of the table after nearest rivals, Old Belvedere secured a crucial home win over Garryowen. A drop goal three minutes from time from Danny Riordan saw his side run out three point winners.

Old Belvedere’s win means they over take Shannon, who were defeated 32-17 by Dolphin at Musgrave Park. The home side picked up the bonus point win thanks to James Kiernan’s try late on. The defeat for Shannon means that they remain just three points off bottom side UL Bohemians with five games remaining.