Con gain revenge on Dungannon

Cork Constitution 23 Dungannon 12, Temple Hill

Cork Con gained revenge for their 56-33 defeat to the Northerners on the final day of last season with a power packed opening win at Temple Hill.

Scrum-half Pat McCarthy put them in front with a left-sided penalty on two minutes, before new recruit, New Zealand out-half Steve McColl, popped over a drop goal for a 6-0 Con lead.

McColl released centre Jean Vincent Igarza through the Dungannon line on 14 minutes for the game's opening try, converted by McCarthy.

Full back David O’Brien tagged on a second drop goal before wing Cronin Healy eventually touched down on 39 minutes to the right of the Dungannon posts, with the conversion added by the impressive McCarthy.

Con’s new managerial pairing of Brian Walsh and David Corkery must have been pleased with a 23-0 interval advantage, but evidently the scoring slackened in the second half.

Dungannon however had to wait for their first score until late on as John McGuckin and Gillan Carruthers scored tries late on, with McGuckin converting his.