AIB League: Steenson Fires ‘Gannon Up To Fifth

Dungannon’s Stanley McDowell is tackled by ‘Rock centre Simon Morrissey

Dungannon, aided by a 21-point haul from fly-half Gareth Steenson, came from behind to score a 36-23 victory against Blackrock at Stradbrook on Saturday.

AIB LEAGUE: DIVISION ONE: Saturday, November 5

Blackrock College 23 Dungannon 36, Stradbrook

Scorers: Blackrock: Tries: Karl Gilligan, Simon Morrissey; Cons: Paddy O’Toole, Antonio Pinto; Pens: O’Toole 3

Dungannon: Tries: Gareth Steenson, Oisin Hennessy, Ralph Mercer, Stanley McDowell; Cons: Steenson 2; Pens: Steenson 4

Former Ireland Under-21 captain Steenson steered the Tyrone men to their second successive win as a four-try burst in the second half saw ‘Rock felled.

The home side were 10-0 up after only 12 minutes as fly-half Paddy O’Toole kicked a third-minute penalty and added the extras to left wing Karl Gilligan’s try – his second in as many games.

Steenson settled ‘Gannon, 17-10 winners of this fixture last season, by kicking a 20-minute penalty and he swapped two further penalties with O’Toole before the break.

‘Gannon trailed 16-9 but had a man advantage for the second half as a 36th-minute sin-binning for O’Toole left ‘Rock short-handed. Steenson took full advantage to plunge over for the visitors’ first try, seven minutes after the restart.

Then full-back Stanley McDowell and flanker Oisin Hennessy breached the ‘Rock cover to fire Jeremy Davidson’s side ahead. Right wing Ralph Mercer crossed for his first of the campaign on 76 minutes and Steenson completed the comeback with his fourth penalty success, two minutes later.

‘Rock, whose young pack did well in the opening half, got in for a consolation try in injury-time as centre Simon Morrissey dotted down.

Blackrock College: A Henry; A Pinto, F Carr, S Morrissey, C Gilligan; P O’Toole (M Roche 78), R Molloy; C Murphy (S Byrne 62), C Gee (D Gavin 56), M Cuffe, O Cullen, M Legge (A Brannigan 69), D Dillon (capt), E Manawaiti (P Graham 75), D Laffin.

Dungannon: S McDowell; R Mercer, J Bell, G Telford, R Morrow (A Kirkpatrick 52); G Steenson, J Bates (J Turkington 79); G Maxwell (M Neilly ht), C O’Kane, D Fitzpatrick, S McCarroll, M Boyd (J Morton 51), A Hughes (capt), S Lamb, O Hennessy.

Referee: Donal Courtney (IRFU)

Cork Constitution 13 Buccaneers 6, Temple Hill

Scorers: Con: Tries: Andrew O’Brien, Conor Quaid; Pen: Neil Whitworth

Buccs: Pen: Tom Cregan; Drop: Cregan

Two tries in the space of four first half minutes from Andrew O’Brien and Conor Quaid helped Cork Constitution maintain their 100% start to the season.

Brian Walsh’s side lie third having picked up their fourth straight win on Saturday. Buccs, though, began in determined fashion – top-scoring full-back Tom Cregan landed a 25th-minute drop goal.

His opposite number Neil Whitworth replied with a penalty for Con, three minutes later, and poor defence from the visitors really turned the game in Con’s favour before the break.

A kick ahead opened up the Pirates’ defence and Con sweeped the ball across their backline on 34 minutes for centre O’Brien to touch down. On 38 minutes, fly-half Quaid repeated the trick as another breakaway attack saw Buccs all at sea.

Both tries went unconverted and Con led 13-3 at the break.

Yellow cards for both lock John Moloney, in the first half, and man-of-the-match hooker Denis Fogarty saw Con’s attacking chances curbed in the second half and Buccs managed the only score of the second 40 – a Cregan penalty on 53 minutes.

Cork Con: N Whitworth; R Lane, C Mahony (A Ryan 65), A O’Brien, C Healy; C Quaid (DLyons 60), F Murphy; T Ryan, D Fogarty, M Ross, J Moloney, S O’Connor, M O’Connell (L Hill 64; D Murray 71), F Cogan (capt), B Cutriss.

Buccaneers: T Cregan; S Brady, P O’Sullivan, W Wallace, C Lavelle; D Greene, M Bruce (B Campbell 50); B Gilligan (C O’Loughlin 50), G Halligan, M Cahill, B Buckley, D Kelly (D Gannon 50), A Hanley, D Quinlan, C Hartigan.

Referee: David Keane (IRFU)

County Carlow 18 Galwegians 20, Oak Park

Scorers: Carlow: Tries: Ross Barbour, Ross Jackson; Con: Greg Jacob; Pens: Jacob 2

Galwegians: Tries: Tom Tierney, Barry Liddy, Ross Davies; Con: Brendan Bartley; Pen: Bartley

Connacht scrum-half Tom Tierney was on target for Galwegians as they held on for a 20-18 win at County Carlow.

‘Wegians handed new boss Paul Young, the former Newport Gwent Dragons hooker, his first win just before the break for the internationals but they did it the hard way after leading 17-11 at half-time.

Tierney, Ross Davies and Barry Liddy scored first half tries for ‘Wegians with Brendan Bartley adding a conversion.

Carlow tallied their points from a Ross Jackson try and two Greg Jacob penalties. Jacob landed his first after three minutes.

Right wing Ross Barbour grabbed a second try for the midlanders in the second half but a Bartley penalty, in the absence of regular kicker John Cleary, saw ‘Wegians emerge victorious to send Carlow down to 14th place.

County Carlow: C Raul; R Barbour, T Bonnefoy, R Armstrong, R Jackson (B Murphy 65); G Jacob, S Gibbons (R Jones 52); P Brennan (L O’Byrne 51), A Galavan (W Kerr 64), K Corrigan, K Serafen, W Whitten, D Cox, T Tasola, R Porter.

Galwegians: B Bartley; J Culkin, B Liddy, H Murphy, P Phelan; P Durcan, T Tierney; D O’Brien (J Burke 48), J Merrigan, R Davies, L Scahill, B McClearn, A Conboy, S Miller, I Muldoon.