Lansdowne trounce Dolphin to score bonus-point win

LANSDOWNE 37 DOLPHIN 7

John Cooney and Jordi Murphy both returned from provincial duty to score tries in Lansdowne’s bonus-point success at home to Dolphin this afternoon.

This was an important Ulster Bank League win for Lansdowne who lost their last Division 1A game to Young Munster and were beaten by St. Mary’s in the Leinster Senior League Cup decider.

They were bonus point winners on Dolphin’s most recent visit to the Aviva Stadium’s back pitch, but the Cork outfit got off to a decent start this afternoon.

Young winger Rory Scannell broke through for the opening try following a clever move from a lineout, with Barry Keeshan adding the extras.

Lansdowne, who had Connacht's Kyle Tonetti playing at outside centre, regrouped quickly and enjoyed the better of possession before Mark Roche, another promising back on show, slipped in for an unconverted try.

Experienced out-half Keeshan put in some crucial clearances as Dolphin came under further pressure, and they yielded when Leinster scrum half Cooney got over in the corner from a scrum.

Keeshan pulled a penalty attempt wide into the wind, and the hosts cranked up the pressure approaching half-time.

They wheeled the Dolphin scrum and forced a penalty off a second set piece. Having kicked to touch, Lansdowne pressed closer in and Dolphin scrum half Brian Slater saw yellow for infringing.

In the next phase, Lansdowne worked a five-metre lineout and lock Willie Earle managed to dot down by the posts for Craig Ronaldson to convert.

The pace of the game slackened slightly after the break. Six minutes in, Ronaldson landed a penalty to make it 20-7 to Mike Ruddock’s men.

Successive yellow cards for Earle and Dolphin winger James Kiernan saw both sides reduced to 14 men. A length of the pitch break from Lansdowne earned them another penalty which Ronaldson dispatched through the uprights.

Referee Barrie O’Connell then sin-binned Lansdowne number 8 Murphy and his opposite number Miah Cronin for getting involved in an off-the-ball scuffle.

Lansdowne adjusted better to the smaller numbers on the pitch and used their scrummaging strength to build for further tries, the bonus point score being finished off by Cooney.

Ronaldson swept over a fine conversion from wide out, and Murphy, who started for Leinster against Connacht last weekend, grabbed the fifth try in the dying minutes.

Ronaldson added the final conversion to move his tally for the league season onto 93 points, with the result keeping Lansdowne nicely perched at the business end of the table.

Scorers:

Lansdowne: Tries: Mark Roche, John Cooney 2, Willie Earle, Jordi Murphy; Cons: Craig Ronaldson 3; Pens: Craig Ronaldson 2

Dolphin: Try: Rory Scannell; Con: Barry Keeshan

HT: Lansdowne 17 Dolphin 7