Four wins for Limerick sides from Saturday's AIL action

IT WAS a good day for Limerick sides in the All-Ireland League with four of the six teams tasting victory. Young Munster, Old Crescent, UL Bohs and Bruff all won their respective games, while Shannon and Garryowen suffered defeats.

Young Munster consolidated their top four place in the Division 1A after a 15-10 win over Lansdowne at the Aviva Stadium's back pitch.

The Cookies were stunned early by a converted Jack O'Sullivan try. Evan Cusack responded with a penalty but it was the home side that went in at the break 10-3 in front with a kick of their own.

However, Young Munster upped the tempo in the second-half with a Stephen Lyons try that reduced Lansdowne's lead to just two points.

Munster's then hit the front thanks to Shay McCarthy and a Cusack conversion then put them five points to the good. Gearoid Prendergast's side withstood some late home pressure to see out the victory.

It was a more difficult day for the other two Limerick sides in 1A with both Shannon and Garryowen falling to defeats. Shannon remain in the relegation play-off position following their loss to top of the table Clontarf.

First half tries from JJ O'Dea and Ivan Soroka helped 'Tarf to a 12-3 advantage with Shannon's score coming from the boot of Mike Cooke.

It was one-way traffic in the second-half for Clontarf and they added to their lead with scores from Ben Murphy, Matt D'Arcy and Dylan Donnellan. Tadhg Bird added eight points from the kicking tee to seal a 33-3 win.

Already relegated Garryowen fell to another defeat when they were on the wrong side of a 29-21 scoreline against Cork Con in Dooradoyle.

It was an even opening 25 minutes but it was Con that got the opening try with hooker Billy Scannell touching down. George Coomber then added the extras for Cork Con. 

A second try arrived right on half-time courtesy of Billy Crowley and a Coomber conversion helped Con into a 14-0 advantage at the break.

Garryowen got back into the contest thanks to a Jamie Shanahan try with Tony Butler adding the extras. However, Con were soon back in the ascendancy after Jack Kelleher added their third try. Again Coomber did the necessary with the conversion.

Colm Quilligan got a second Garryowen try to bring them back into it again and Butler's conversion then put just seven points between the teams.

Niall Kenneally looked to have seen Con to the win with their fourth and bonus point try on 74 minutes but there was a sting in the Garryowen tail still left.

A Matt Sheahan try, converted by Butler, gave Garryowen hope late on but a Coomber penalty in the final moments saw Con home to the victory.

In Division 2A, both UL Bohs and Old Crescent earned wins from their respective games against Dolphin and Navan respectively. 

Bohs are now five points off moving out of the relegation play-off spot after a 27-24 cracker in Annacotty. Ian Keatley's charges made a fast start to race into a 15-0 lead courtesy of two tries from their captain, Paul Clancy.

Harry Byrne added five points from the boot but Dolphin hit back with two converted tries to put just one point in the game at half-time.

Dolphin added a third early in the second-half but Bohs with Jamie McNamara's converted try putting them back in front. The Cork side nailed a penalty to go into the lead and at that stage it looked grim for Bohs.

However, the Red Robins produced a grandstand finish with a Darragh O'Gorman try in the corner sealing a three-point win.

Old Crescent moved into sixth in the table with a stunning 22-21 away victory in Navan. Crescent found themselves 14-7 up after the opening quarter with Conor Lenihan and Joe Rickard crossing.

A Ronan McKenna penalty then saw them in a good position heading up to half-time and things got even better for Crescent with a Kevin Doyle try that saw them 22-7 up at the break. Two tries brought Navan back into the contest but Crescent held on. 

In Division 2C, Bruff also came out the better of a tight contest in seeing off Bangor on a 15-13 scoreline at Kilballyowen Park. A Paul Collins penalty had the south Limerick in front early on but Bangor hit back with 10 points themselves to take the lead.

A converted Mark Fitzpatrick try levelled the game up before Bangor hit the front again with a penalty. Bruff nicked the win though with Collins bagging the all-important winning try.