Shannon go seven-up against Dolphin

Shannon 51 Dolphin 7

Second-placed Shannon consolidated their position behind leaders Cork Con ahead of the Christmas break with a seven-try beating of a mesmerised Dolphin side at Thomond Park this afternoon.

The win, a sixth from seven starts for the Limerick men, puts them just a point behind Con on 28 points and they head into the New year as the top scorers in the Division on 208 points.

Wing Tom Cregan scored 21 of those points with full-back John Lacey scorching over for three tries inside the first twenty minutes.

The rout began early on for Geoff Moylan’s men on the site of Munster’s half-century win over Treviso the previous evening, as full back Lacey crossed in the second minute for the first of his hat-trick.

Wing Tom Cregan was in fine form with the boot and he converted Lacey’s three first half efforts, with the second and third touch downs coming on 17 and 20 minutes for Lacey, the AIL's most prolific try scorer.

Dolphin struggled in the conditions and having been reliant on out-half John O’Mahony for much of their previous league games, he was left with just one conversion from this game as Shannon kept their discipline throughout.

He managed to add the extra points to Conor Twomey’s try in the 24th minute which proved to be the Cork side’s only points of the game.

Cregan, who is the only member of the Shannon back line to miss a league game so far this winter, hit over a 48th minute penalty to keep the scoreboard rolling on from their 24-7 half-time lead.

Tries for Gareth Noonan (58 minutes) and captain Tom Hayes (63) put Shannon in bonus point territory and a fitting try for Cregan, converted by himself, and a Brian Tuohy score with two minutes remaining completed the demolition.