Shannon pace too much for UCD

UCD 14 Shannon 43, Belfield

Stephen Kelly showed what an asset he is to Shannon by scoring a hat-trick of tries in their impressive dismissal of UCD at Belfield today.

The sheer pace of the multi-talented winger, who is also a member of the Limerick Gaelic football panel, was too much for the students to handle.

UCD took the lead thanks to a Conor Quinn try but efforts from John Clogan, Mossie Lawlor and Killian O'Neill had Shannon leading 17-7 at half-time.

Further tries from replacement Eoghan Grace and Kelly (3) completed the rout as Shannon guaranteed their place in the semi-finals.

The former champions, along with pace-setters Cork Constitution and third-placed Garryowen, can book a home semi-final on April 19 but will be relying on other results to go their way.

Gunning for their fifth win in seven league games against UCD, Shannon got off to a sluggish start with Quinn intercepting a midfield pass and ghosting over for an 11th-minute try.

Killian Lett converted and with Shannon facing into the breeze, it looked like they might struggle - particularly after last Sunday's 18-13 reversal to Dolphin.

But three tries before half-time gave them the upperhand and they never relinquished that lead.

Centre John Clogan notched the first in the 23rd-minute, dashing in at the corner after Munster's Niall Ronan had been held up.

There was some neat play from Andrew Finn and Mossie Lawlor, who slotted in at out-half, in the lead-up to Clogan's score.

Lawlor then turned scorer in the 39th-minute when he spotted a gap and went straight through it, allowing Andrew Thompson an easier conversion for 12-7.

In the third-minute of first half injury-time, prop Killian O'Neill got over for his first try of the season.

Colm McMahon and Niall Ronan were heavily involved in the build-up and a quick pass from Lawlor out to the left put the unchallenged O'Neill over.

Nine minutes after the resumption, Shannon continued to pile on the pressure with replacement flanker Eoghan Grace touching down for the bonus point score.

It then turned into the Stephen Kelly show for the final quarter. In the 61st-minute, the winger launched a chip and chase attack which led to his first try, which winger David O'Donovan converted.

UCD cut the gap back to 31-14 when pressure near the Shannon line told and hooker Conor Geoghegan crashed over after he had taken a quick tap penalty.

But Shannon ended the game on the up when Kelly crossed for a 76th-minute try, after David Quinlan had initially broken off the back of a scrum.

Quinlan and Grace both took the ball on in the first-minute of injury-time before Finn offloaded for Kelly to nab his hat-trick score and his ninth try of the league campaign.

O'Donovan's third conversion completed the scoring as Shannon's backs coach Ian Sherwin, an ex-UCD scrum half, got one over on his former club.

The win sent Kelly merrily on his way up to Newry to join the Limerick footballers for tonight's NFL encounter with Down, but his journey was cut short as the game was called off due to an unplayable pitch.