Dooley the hero in Terenure victory, Clontarf and Cork Con keep winning runs going

CAOLAN DOOLEY DISPLAYED his match-winning ability again as his razor-sharp right boot guided Terenure College past Lansdowne, the recent Energia All-Ireland League Division 1A leaders.

Terenure’s goal-kicking hero from last season’s final, Dooley coolly stepped up to plant a penalty through the posts in the last play to earn a tense 24-23 win over Lansdowne.

The Lakelands Park faithful must have felt a bonus point victory was a possibility, given ‘Nure led 21-9 at half-time thanks to tries from Adam La Grue and Levi Vaughan.

Lansdowne rocked the hosts with converted scores from Hugo McLaughlin (67 minutes) and Jack Cooke (76), but Dooley had the final say to move the title holders back up to fifth place.

Fresh from winning his first two Leinster caps, Dylan Donnellan enjoyed a try-scoring return with Clontarf whose fifth straight win has them four points clear at the top of the table.

Donnellan, the ‘Tarf captain, used a tap penalty to score his fifth try of the campaign, as Andy Wood’s men ran out 35-17 winners over City of Armagh at Castle Avenue.

Armagh trailed 14-5 at the break and had two late consolation tries from mauls, both scored by replacement Jack Treanor. Winger Peter Maher bagged two of the hosts’ five converted scores.

Meanwhile, Ulster flyer Aaron Sexton opened his AIL account for Ballynahinch as they overcame Dublin University, winning 21-15 at College Park.

The ‘Hinch backs joined a 10th-minute lineout drive as hooker Claytan Milligan chalked up his sixth try in five matches. Cancelling out a Hugh O’Kennedy penalty, Sexton finished crisply in the right corner from a Dominic Clapcott pass.

A second effort from Sexton, 53 minutes in, saw ‘Hinch set up a dummy maul, and the 23-year-old winger took a great line onto a Zack McCall pass, bursting through into the Trinity 22 and sidestepping inside Charlie Beckett to score under the posts.

Conor Rankin tagged on his third conversion, but Adam Craig’s side missed out on a likely bonus point. Instead, the students fought back impressively for a point of their own, with Zach Baird scrambling over from close range and Aaron Coleman muscling over from a 74th-minute maul.

Cork Constitution had too much firepower for Munster rivals Shannon, winning 43-24 on Thomond Park’s back pitch where winger Daniel Hurley helped himself to a hat-trick.

Shannon’s well-oiled maul provided the platform for three of their tries, but the visitors, who are now in second spot and three points clear of third-placed Lansdowne, crossed the whitewash six times.

Jack Kelleher, Rob Hedderman and replacement Te Atawhai Mason, with a late intercept effort, joined Hurley on the scoresheet, while James Taylor kicked Con’s other 13 points.

Tim Corkery ran in two intercept tries to help UCD edge out Young Munster 26-24 in a titanic tussle at the UCD Bowl.

Young Munster outscored their hosts by three tries to two, but were left to rue some costly penalties as UCD scrum half Michael Moloney kicked 16 points and Corkery claimed his second try while Cookies captain Alan Kennedy was in the sin bin.

The students were able to absorb some prolonged pressure, and Andrew Osborne’s sin-binning, to lead 16-10 at half-time. Centre Corkery scampered clear from halfway to cancel out a Stephen McLoughlin maul try.

Despite Kennedy and replacement Donnchadh O’Callaghan also crossing for Munsters, Corkery struck again in the 61st minute to add to Moloney’s fourth penalty as Emmet MacMahon’s young side prevailed in a nail-biting finish.

UCD’s second win of the league season lifts them away from the bottom two. It was their first victory over Munsters since February 2019, and Ger Slattery’s charges, clearly frustrated to lose such a close encounter, remain ninth in the standings.

ROUND 5 RESULTS:

DIVISION 1A:

CLONTARF 35 CITY OF ARMAGH 17, Castle Avenue

Scorers: Clontarf: Tries: Dylan Donnellan, Alex Usanov, Peter Maher 2, Hugh Cooney; Cons: Conor Kelly 4, Jack Murphy.

City of Armagh: Tries: Barry Finn, Jack Treanor 2; Con: Brayden Laing..

HT: Clontarf 14 City of Armagh 5

CLONTARF: Tadhg Bird; Peter Maher, Hugh Cooney, Matt D’Arcy, Noah Sheridan; Conor Kelly, Louis O’Reilly; Alex Usanov, Dylan Donnellan (capt), Ben Griffin, Fionn Gilbert, Jim Peters, Josh Murphy, Richie Whelan Ruadhan Byron.

Replacements: Declan Adamson, Ivan Soroka, Darragh Bolger, Sam Owens, Jack Murphy, Steve Crosbie.

CITY OF ARMAGH: Shea O’Brien; Sam Cunningham, Matthew Hooks, Tim McNiece, Glen Faloon; Brayden Laing, Lewis Finlay; Dylan Poyntz, Jonny Morton, Cameron Doak, John Glasgow, James Crummie, James McNabney, Nigel Simpson (capt), Neil Faloon.

Replacements: Jack Treanor, Paul Mullen, Niall Carville, Barry Finn, Dylan Nelson, Andrew Willis.

*****

DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 15 BALLYNAHINCH 21, College Park

Scorers: Dublin University: Tries: Zach Baird, Aaron Coleman; Con: Hugh O’Kennedy; Pen: Hugh O’Kennedy.

Ballynahinch: Tries: Claytan Milligan, Aaron Sexton 2; Cons: Conor Rankin 3.

HT: Dublin University 3 Ballynahinch 14

DUBLIN UNIVERSITY: Charlie Beckett; James Dillon, Louis McDonough, Victor Allen, John-Francis Campbell; Hugh O’Kennedy, Cormac King; Jerry Cahir, Zach Baird, Thomas Connolly, Juan Beukes, Dan Barron, Kev Jackson, Aaron Coleman, Diarmuid McCormack (capt).

Replacements: Conall Henchy, Cole Kelly, Jack Kearney, David Walsh, Oscar Cawley, Zach Quirke.

BALLYNAHINCH: Conor Rankin; Aaron Sexton, Paul Kerr, Mark Best, Ethan Graham; Dominic Clapcott, Chris Gibson; George Saunderson, Claytan Milligan, Kyle McCall (capt), Tom Donnan, Declan Horrox, Callum Irvine, Zack McCall, Bryn Ward.

Replacements: John Dickson, Harry McCormick, Bradley Luney, Jack Milligan, Aaron Cairns, Conor McKee.

****

SHANNON 24 CORK CONSTITUTION 43, Thomond Park back pitch

Scorers: Shannon: Tries: Dan Hurley, Gus Harrington, Penalty try, David Maher; Cons: Mike Cooke, Pen try con.

Cork Constitution: Tries: Jack Kelleher, Rob Hedderman, Daniel Hurley 3, Te Atawhai Mason; Cons: James Taylor 5; Pen: James Taylor.

HT: Shannon 12 Cork Constitution 29

SHANNON: John O’Sullivan; Stephen Kiely, Cian O’Halloran, Harry Long, Dan Hurley; Mike Cooke, Ethan Coughlan; Kieran Ryan, Gus Harrington, Luke Rigney, Gus Ryan, David Maher, Tadhg O’Brien, Lee Nicholas (capt), Daniel Okeke.

Replacements: Jordan Prenderville, Conor Glynn, Tony Cusack, Will Bright, Will Reilly, Jack O’Donnell.

CORK CONSTITUTION: Rob Hedderman; Daniel Hurley, Billy Crowley, Harry O’Riordan, Matthew Bowen; James Taylor, Louis Kahn; Alessandro Heaney, Danny Sheahan, Luke Masters, Sean Duffy, Eoin Quilter, Jack Kelleher, John Forde, David Hyland (capt).

Replacements: Billy Scannell, Mark Donnelly, Matisse Lamarque d’Arrouzat, Mark Stafford, Adam Maher, Te Atawhai Mason.

****

TERENURE COLLEGE 24 LANSDOWNE 23, Lakelands Park

Scorers: Terenure College: Tries: Adam La Grue, Levi Vaughan; Con: Callum Smith; Pens: Callum Smith 3, Caolan Dooley
Lansdowne: Tries: Hugo McLaughlin, Jack Cooke; Cons: Stephen Madigan 2; Pens: Stephen Madigan 3

HT: Terenure College 21 Lansdowne 9

TERENURE COLLEGE: Colm de Buitléar; Stephen O’Neill, Sam Berman, Peter Sylvester, Adam La Grue; Callum Smith, Fintan Gunne; Campbell Classon, Levi Vaughan, Adam Tuite, Harrison Brewer (capt), Mikey O’Reilly, Conall Boomer, Luke Clohessy, Jordan Coghlan.

Replacements: Ben Howard, Conan O’Donnell, Matthew Caffrey, Tom Coghlan, Aran Egan, Caolan Dooley.

LANSDOWNE: Hugo McLaughlin; Cathal Eddy, Andy Marks, Rory Parata (capt), Sean Galvin; Stephen Madigan, James Kenny; Ben Popplewell, Tom Barry, Temi Lasisi, Jack Cooke, Ruairi Clarke, Clive Ross, Barry Fitzpatrick, Hardus van Eeden.

Replacements: Henry Godson, George Morris, Liam Forster, Donough Lawlor, Jack Matthews, Tom Gavigan.

*****

UCD 26 YOUNG MUNSTER 24, UCD Bowl

Scorers: UCD: Tries: Tim Corkery 2; Cons: Michael Moloney 2; Pens: Michael Moloney 4.
Young Munster: Tries: Stephen McLoughlin, Alan Kennedy, Donnchadh O’Callaghan; Cons: Shane O’Leary 3; Pen: Shane O’Leary.

HT: UCD 16 Young Munster 10

UCD: Chris Cosgrave; Harry Donnelly, Tim Corkery, Wilhelm de Klerk, Andrew Osborne; James Tarrant, Michael Moloney; Hugo O’Malley, Gus McCarthy, Andrew Sparrow, Matt Healy, Conor O’Tighearnaigh, Bobby Sheehan (capt), Mark Hernan, Diarmuid Mangan.

Replacements: Tom O’Riordan, Sean Egan, John Fish, Michael Colreavy, Thomas Quinn, Niall Carroll.

YOUNG MUNSTER: Aidan Shortall; Shay McCarthy, Fionn Gibbons, Kegan Christian-Goss, Harry Fleming; Shane O’Leary, Jack Lyons; Harrison Allan, Stephen McLoughlin, Keynan Knox, Tom Goggin, Alan Kennedy (capt), Bailey Faloon, James Horrigan, Ruadhan Quinn.

Replacements: Chris Moore, David Begley, Paul Allen, Fintan Coleman, Donnchadh O’Callaghan, Gearoid Mulcahy.