Four Limerick clubs record wins in vital penultimate series of All-Ireland League fixtures

THERE was mixed luck for Limerick sides in the penultimate round of regular season fixtures in the energia All-Ireland League.

In Division 1A, Garryowen's relegation to 1B for next season was confirmed, despite the Light Blues securing a gritty 19-18 victory over high-flying Clontarf at Dooradoyle.

Basement side Garryowen, who have now won their last two league fixtures, after winning just one of their opening 15 games, cannot catch either of the two sides above them in the table with just next Saturday's final round of regular season games to come. 

Garryowen trail second-from-bottom UCD by six points and are eight adrift of eighth-placed City of Armagh.

Also in Division 1A on Saturday, Young Munster bounced back to winning ways when recording an impressive 20-12 victory over Terenure College at Lakelands.

Munsters' hopes of making the top four play-offs had disappeared prior to their trip to Dublin. However, the seventh-placed Greenfields side an take plenty of satisfaction from this win which ended 'Nure's hopes of making the semi-finals.

In Division 1B, Shannon's hopes of avoiding relegation to Division 2A is hanging by a thread after the Parish side succumbed 34-5 to Old Wesley at energia Park.

Bottom side Shannon trail both ninth-placed Highfield and eighth-placed Dublin University ahead of next weekend's final round of regular season fixtures.

Shannon are at home to sixth-placed Queen's  next Saturday when nothing less than a bonus point win will suffice for the Limerick side to have any chance of avoiding the drop. Even then Shannon will have to hope that neither Highfield or Dublin University manage to pick up a match point in their respective fixtures.

Shannon's points difference is one point superior to Dublin University and 41 points better off than Highfield's. 

Meanwhile, in Division 2A, Old Crescent defeated relegation-threatened Navan 16-14 at Takumi Park on Saturday. The result sees Crescent sit in a comfortable seventh spot in the table.

In Division 2B, UL-Bohemian's promotion play-off hopes were boosted by their impressive 32-10 bonus point victory over Skerries at ULs North Campus.

The result sees the Red, Red Robins move up to fourth place in the table, with now just one round of regular season fixtures to go.

Meanwhile, Bruff are assured of their Division 2C status for next season after picking up a losing bonus point in their narrow 17-20 defeat to Monkstown at Kilballyowen Park.

Eighth-placed Bruff are 11 points clear of basement side Tullamore and seven points ahead of eighth-placed Omagh with one round of games to go in the regular season.

DIVISION 1A:

GARRYOWEN 19 CLONTARF 18, Dooradoyle

Scorers: Garryowen: Tries: Gordon Wood 2, Mikey Veale; Cons: Dylan Hicks 2
Clontarf: Tries: Sam Owens, Dylan Donnellan; Con: Conor Kelly; Pens: Conor Kelly 2

HT: Garryowen 7 Clontarf 13

GARRYOWEN: Colm Quilligan; Tom Ironside Wickham, Gordon Wood, JJ O’Neill, Ronan Quinn; Dylan Hicks, Kelvin Langan; George Hadden, Lars Linnenbank, Ronan Foxe, Finn McCall, Kevin Seymour, Cian Hurley, Des Fitzgerald (capt), Brian Gleeson. Replacements: Dean Fanning, Mikey Veale, Oisin Kearney, Oisin Cooke, Chulainn Williams, Jack Delaney.

CLONTARF: Noah Sheridan; Peter Maher, Connor Fahy, Tadhg Bird, Stephen Ryan; Conor Kelly, Sam Owens; Charlie Ward, Dylan Donnellan (capt), Ben Griffin, Fionn Gilbert, Jim Peters, Callum Smith, Aaron Coleman, John Vinson. Replacements: Declan Adamson, Conor Bateman, Luke Brady, Will Reilly, Victor Allen, Oran Walsh.

TERENURE COLLEGE 12 YOUNG MUNSTER 20, Lakelands Park

Scorers: Terenure College: Tries: Mark Nicholson, Jordan Coghlan; Con: Caolan Dooley
Young Munster: Tries: Evan O’Connell, Shay McCarthy 2; Con: Julian Leszczynski; Pen: Julian Leszczynski

HT: Terenure College 5 Young Munster 7

TERENURE COLLEGE: Adam La Grue; Caolan Dooley, Ethan Reilly, Peter Sylvester, Craig Adams; Aran Egan, Alan Bennie; Marcus Hanan, Mark Nicholson, Luke Rigney, Luke Clohessy (capt), David Maher, Will Hickey, Max Russell, Jordan Coghlan.

Replacements: Levi Vaughan, Adam Tuite, Matt Caffrey, Tom Coghlan, Chris O’Connor, Daniel Martin.

YOUNG MUNSTER: Patrick Campbell; Hubert Gilvarry, Fionn Gibbons, Samson Seinafo, Shay McCarthy; Julian Leszczynski, Jake O’Riordan; David Begley, Aaron Roulston, Paul Allen, Sean Rigney, Evan O’Connell, Alan Kennedy (capt), Manual Covella, Stephen McLoughlin.

Replacements: Seamus Kerrisk, Tom Goggin, James Horrigan, Oran O’Reilly, Donnchadh O’Callaghan, Ihechi Oji.

DIVISION 1B:

OLD WESLEY 34 SHANNON 5, Energia Park

Scorers: Old Wesley: Tries: Kieran O’Shea, Will Fay, Alex Molloy, Paidi Farrell; Cons: Ian Cassidy 4; Pens: Ian Cassidy 2
Shannon: Try: Kelvin Brown

HT: Old Wesley 13 Shannon 0

OLD WESLEY: Tom Larke; Paidi Farrell, Alex Molloy, Eoin Deegan, Eoin Murphy; Ian Cassidy, Andrew Doyle; Adam Watchorn, Kieran O’Shea, Evin Coyle, Mahon Ronan, David Motyer, Billy Corrigan, Reuben Pim (capt), Will Fay. Replacements: Finn Tierney, Rory Duggan, Shane Cawley, Gavin Meagher, Adam O’Connor, Willem Johnstone.

SHANNON: John O’Sullivan; Stephen Kiely, Cian O’Halloran, Harry Long (capt), Matt Te Pou; Jamie Gavin, Ian Leonard; Kieran Ryan, Gus Harrington, Darragh McSweeney, Jack Brady, Christian Storey, Cian McCann, Luke Murphy, Lee Nicholas. Replacements: Jordan Prenderville, Conor Glynn, Kelvin Brown, Tadhg O’Brien, Luke Doyle, Cillian Corkery.

DIVISION 2A:

OLD CRESCENT 16 NAVAN 14, Takumi Park

Scorers: Old Crescent: Penalties: Ronan McKenna 2. Drop Goals: Ronan McKenna. Navan: Tries: Harry Watters, Penalty Try.
Conversions: Tom Gavigan, Penalty Try.

HT: Old Crescent 6 Navan 7

Old Crescent: Glen Kelly, Dan Hurley, Cathal Monaghan, Werner Hoffman, Daithi Byrnes, Ronan McKenna, Aaron Cosgrove, Evan Creaven, Niall Hardiman, Jake Considine, Yasin Browne, John Toland, Oisin Toland, Karl Madden (capt), John Lyons.
Replacements: Darragh O’Brien, Joe Rickard, Sean Monaghan, Kevin Doyle, Joe McEnery.

Navan: Rory Gordon, Harry Watters, Sean McEntagart, Evan Dixon (capt), Shane Walshe, Tom Gavigan, Mark Farrell, Liam Carroll, Gary Faulkner, Jordan Finney, Liam McAree, Eoghan Noonan, Kyle Dixon, Ben Mc Entagart, Thomas Ciot.
Replacements: Anthony Martinez, Leigh Jackson, Conor Ryan, Michael Brady, Harry Devlin.

DIVISION 2B

UL-BOHEMIAN 32 SKERRIES 10, UL North Campus

Scorers: UL-Bohemian: Tries: Seamus Lyne, Darragh O’Gorman 2, Alan Kiely, Jordan Mills. Conversions: Oisin Fagan 2. Penalties: Oisin Fagan. Skerries: Tries: Sam Deering, Barry Murphy.

HT: UL Bohemian 20 Skerries 5

UL Bohemian: Seamus Lyne, Joe Johnson, Killian Dineen, Matt Sheahan, Darragh O’Gorman (capt), Oisin Fagan, Alan Kiely, Kean Sheehy, Darren Ferrar, Jack Ryan, Mike McMahon, Padraic Galvin, Josh Kahler, Jordan Mills, Liam Neilan.
Replacements: Matt Henry, Pauric Nesbitt, Ronan O’Connor, Lochlann Kelleher, Paul Clancy.

Skerries: Jack Litchfield, Jeff Sexton, David Goodman, Michael Sherlock, Brian Walsh, Paul O’Loghlen (capt), Eoghan Carron, Tomás O’Donovan, Trevor Scuffil, Evann Shelly, Rossa Gilbride, Sam Deering, Ben McKiernan, Darragh McEneaney, Peter O’Neill. Replacements: Johnny Sherwin, Cian McGuinness, Barry Murphy, Dara Twomey, Shane Hannon.

DIVISION 2C:

BRUFF 17 MONKSTOWN 20, Kilballyowen Park

Scorers: Bruff: Tries: Clem McAuliffe, Cillian Rea; Cons: Paul Collins 2; Pen: Paul Collins
Monkstown: Tries: Cian O’Donoghue, Stephen McVeigh; Cons: Matt Stapleton 2; Pens: Matt Stapleton 2

HT: Bruff 14 Monkstown 3

BRUFF: John Bateman; Shane Duggan, Andrew O’Byrne, Conor Fitzpatrick, Clem McAuliffe; Paul Collins, Sean Killbridge; Ciaran Cronin, Mike Frawley, Fionn Flanagan, Tom O’Dwyer, Brendan Gleeson, Mike Cooke, John Sheehan, Cillian Rea (capt). Replacements: Danny Kavanagh, Kieran O’Dwyer, Tom Lillis, Mark Kennedy, Craig Carew.

MONKSTOWN: Saul O’Carroll; Cian O’Donoghue, Matt Stapleton, Fergal Cleary, Paul Harte; Fraser Wright, Tristan Brady; Kieran Stokes, Rob Wynne, Chris Stack, Luke Kelly, Conor Hurley, Ruadhán McDonnell, Tony McGinness (capt), Stephen McVeigh. Replacements: John Wallace, Miguel de Sousa Mendes, Jake Kennedy, Andrew O’Leary, Oisin Brady.