Four Limerick wins on dramatic Saturday of All-Ireland League action

THERE were four precious wins for Limerick clubs in Saturday's Round 16 regular season energia All-Ireland League action. 

In Division 1A, Young Munster's hopes of making the top four play-offs were dented when the Limerick side suffered a 33-50 defeat at home to Clontarf at Tom Clifford Park.

The result leaves Munsters' in sixth place in the 1A table, seven points off the top four play-off places with now just two rounds of regular season fixtures to come.

In Division 1B, Garryowen maintained their promotion play-off hopes with an exciting 36-33 bonus point victory over Instonians at Shaw's Bridge.

The Light Blues sit in fourth place in the table, two points clear of the fifth and sixth placed sides in Division 1B. The Dooradoyle side are four points behind Saturday's opponents Instonians. 

There were two excellent wins for the Limerick clubs competing in Division 2A of the league.

READ NEXT: Munster Rugby devoured by seven-try Sharks in crushing URC defeat in Durban

Free-scoring Shannon racked up six tries in their convincing 38-0 victory over Banbridge at Rifle Park.

The result has Shannon sitting in second place in the 2A table, boosting their hopes of securing home advantage in the play-offs with just two games remaining in the regular season. However, in a tight table, fifth-placed Corinthians are just five points behind the Parish side.

Also in Division 2A, Old Crescent recorded a precious 13-10 win over Greystones at Dr Hickey Park on Saturday.

However, Crescent remain in ninth place in the table, 17 points of basement side Banbridge, but six points behind both seventh-placed Greystones and eighth-placed Ballymena. 

In Division 2B, promotion play-off chasing UL-Bohemian racked up no fewer than 10 tries in securing a commanding 70-22 bonus point win over Buccaneers at ULs North Campus.

Third-placed UL-Bohs are assured of a play-off spot as they sit 14 points clear of fourth-placed Sligo and 15 points ahead of fifht-placed Rainey RFC. 

Meanwhile, in Division 2C, there was no joy for the two Limerick sides, both losing out in high scoring contests.

Thomond fell to a 54-28 defeat to Munster rivals Dolphin at Virgin Media Park, while Bruff, who racked up six tries, lost out 57-40 to Bective Rangers at Energia Park.

Thomond are assured of a promotion play-off place as the Limerick side sit in third place in the table.

Seventh-placed Bruff have all but secured their AIL Division 2C status for next season, now enjoying a nine point advantage over second-from-bottom placed Belfast Harlequins.

Energia All-Ireland League Men's Divisions – Round 16:

Saturday, March 21 –

Division 1A:

Young Munster 33 Clontarf 50, Tom Clifford Park

Scorers Young Munster: Tries: Kelvin Langan (9′), Liam McMahon (19′), Oisin Pepper (20′), Stephen McLoughlin (25′), Fionn Gibbons (48′). Conversions: Kelvin Langan (10′, 20′, 26′, 49′).
Scorers Clontarf: Tries: Noah Sheridan (5′), Dylan Donnellan (17′), Niall Smyth (31′), Aaron Coleman (43′), Hugo Lennox (54′), Ivan Soroka (67′), Darragh Doyle (72′), Peter Maher (74′).
Conversions: Conor Kelly (18′, 44′, 55′, 68′, 73′).

Young Munster: Shay McCarthy, Andrew Smith, Fionn Gibbons, Luke McCready, Oisin Pepper, Kelvin Langan, Hubert Gilvarry, David Begley, Liam McMahon, Paul Allen, Oran O’Reilly, Alan Kennedy, Fintan Coleman, Leo Langbridge, Stephen McLoughlin.
Replacements: Ben Everard, Ajae Hanson, James Horrigan, Ihechi Oji, Harry Langbridge, Orin Burke.

Clontarf: Hugo Lennox, Noah Sheridan, Connor Fahy, Tadhg Bird, Peter Maher, Conor Kelly, Michael Moloney, Ivan Soroka, Dylan Donnellan, Niall Smyth, Fionn Gilbert, Jim Peters, Paul Deeny, Aaron Coleman, Richie Whelan.
Replacements: Darragh Doyle, Charlie Ward, Declan Adamson, Sam Owens, Conor Gibney, Alvin Amaniampong.

Energia AIL Division 1B – Round 16

Instonians 33 Garryowen 36, Shaw’s Bridge

Scorers Instonians: Tries: Bradley McNamara, Bevan Prinsloo, Ruairi O’Farrell, Oli Clark 2. Conversions: Josh Eagleson 4.
Scorers Garryowen: Tries: Thomas Ironside Wickham, Sean Sexton 2, Max Clein 2. Conversions: Lachlan Stewart 4. Penalties: Lachlan Stewart.

Instonians: Bradley McNamara, Mark Keane, Bevan Prinsloo, Ian Whitten, Craig Gilroy, Josh Eagleson, Ruairi O’Farrell, Callum Reid, Oli Clark, Liam Kaprigiannis, Mark Mairs, Robert Whitten, Kian Mulholland, Paul Pritchard, Alistair Burke.
Replacements: Neil Saulters, Anton Lupari, Schalk Van Der Merwe, Andrew Keane, Ed Broom, Simon McMaster.

Garryowen: Colm Quilligan, Thomas Ironside Wickham, JJ O’Neill, Jack Delaney, Sean Sexton, Lachlan Stewart, Luca Cleary, George Hadden, Max Clein, Ben Leahy, Oisin Cooke, Finn McCall, Alan Fitzgerald, Dean Fanning, Rory Woods.
Replacements: Lars Linnenbank, Mark Fitzgerald, Jack Costello, Sean Rennison, Chulainn Williams, Marcus Joyce.

Energia AIL Division 2A – Round 16

Banbridge 0 Shannon RFC 38, Rifle Park

Scorers Banbridge: Scorers Shannon RFC: Tries: Luke Doyle, Joshua Costello, Neil Cronin, Cian McCann, Oisin Minogue 2.
Conversions: Cillian O’Connor 4.

Banbridge: Adam Doherty, Xander Lowham, Joe Dickson, Jona Mataiciwa, Darragh Knox, Charlie Beattie, Philip Jackson, John Wilson, Peter Cromie, Michael Cromie, Daniel Kilpatrick, Alexander Thompson, Dean Hayes, Matthew Heasley, Kyle Stirling.
Replacements: Finlay King, Ryan Rodgers, Alexander Weir, Lewis Magowan, Neil Kilpatrick.

Shannon RFC: Matt Te Pou, Luke Doyle, Cian O’Halloran, Harry Long (capt), Joshua Costello, Cillian O’Connor, Neil Cronin, Emmet Calvey, Peter Dougan, Jamie Conway, Samson Alaimoana, Cian McCann, Scott Gleeson, Oisin Minogue, Neal Moylett.
Replacements: Alex Long, Tony Cusack, Alex Kennedy, Lee Nicholas, Rory McDermott.

Greystones 10 Old Crescent 13, Dr. Hickey Park

Scorers Greystones: Tries: Dylan Henry, Ken Murphy. Scorers Old Crescent: Tries: John Toland. Conversions: Jeff Williams. Penalties: Jeff Williams 2.

Greystones: Gavin Rochford, Craig Kenny, Peter Ford, Matt O’Brien, Dylan Henry, Killian Marmion, David Baker (capt), Cole Kelly, Rob Byrne, Conor Pearse, James Douglas, Jack Dooley, Stephen Bourke, Adam Benson, Reeve Satherley.
Replacements: Freddy Happonen, Quermy Warmerdam, Ken Murphy, Cormac O’Donoghue, Danny Kenny.

Old Crescent: Timmy Duggan, Sean Donnarumma, Larry Hanly, Paul McNamara, Stephen Kiely, Jeff Williams, Joe McEnery, Joe Rickard, Declan Aylward, Dennis O’Dwyer, John Moloney, Oisin Toland, Dean O’Grady, ⁠James McKeogh, John Toland (capt).
Replacements: Lee O’Grady, Evan Creaven, Cillian Toland, Jamie Duggan, Brian Molloy.

Energia AIL Division 2B – Round 16

UL Bohemian 70 Buccaneers 22, UL 4G

Scorers UL Bohemian: Tries: Oisin Fagan 2, Killian Dineen, Evan Lacey, Tom Cullen 4, Padraic Galvin, Sean Quirke, Liam Neilan 4, Liam O’Shanahan 2. Conversions: Cian Casey 10. Scorers Buccaneers:

UL-Bohemian: Oisin Fagan, Greg Fitzgerald, Killian Dineen (capt), Paul Clancy, Joe Johnson, Cian Casey, Evan Lacey, Kean Sheehy, Tom Cullen, Jack Ryan, Simon Staunton, Padraic Galvin, Jordan Mills, Sean Quirke, Liam Neilan. Replacements: Darren Ferrar, Jake Considine, Shane Buckley, Zac O’Loughlin, Liam O’Shanahan.

Buccaneers: Dylan Duffy, Tom Shine, Orrin Burgess, Thomas Cotton, Ross Murphy Sweeney, Gearoid McDonald, Abel Bouwens, Adam Cooper, Oisin Dolan, Charlie Byrne, Ryan O’Meara, Conor Sheehan, Paddy Egan, Dan Donovan, Samuel Meecham. Replacements: Sean Glennon, James Kelly, Jack Crampton, David Colgan, Samuel Tan.

Energia AIL Division 2C – Round 16

Bective Rangers 57 Bruff 40, Energia Park

Scorers Bective Rangers: Scorers Bruff: Tries: Paul Collins, Shane Duggan, Nehuen Rossetti 2, Clem McAuliffe, Cillian Rea.
Conversions: Paul Collins 5.

Bective Rangers: Tim Carroll, Chris Rolland, Tom McCarthy, Bobby Holland, Dave McPolin, Matthew Gilsenan (capt), Connor Halpenny, Rory Mulvihill, Christopher Hennessy, Conor Kelly, Ronan Cregan, Donagh Lawler, Gavin Kelly, Oisin McCloskey, Tiarnan McCloskey. Replacements: Scott O’Keeffe, Scott Barron, James Gallagher, Charlie O’Reilly, Ben Garrett.

Bruff: Paul Collins, Shane Duggan, Nehuen Rossetti, Andrew O’Byrne, Clem McAuliffe, John Bateman, Cathal Garvey, Darragh O’Brien, Wiktor Wilczuk, Kieran O’Dwyer, Aidan Carroll, Brendan Gleeson, Mike Frawley, Darragh Browne, Cillian Rea (capt).
Replacements: Mark Kennedy, Fionn Flanagan, Callum Ellevsen, Ben Tucker, Hugh Clogan.

Dolphin 54 Thomond RFC 28, Virgin Media Park

Scorers Dolphin: Tries: Hunter Yarrell 2, Sam Boyle, Scott Sexton, Craig O’Connell, Finn Cowhig, Max Abbott, Richie Heaslip.
Conversions: Hunter Yarrell 7. Scorers Thomond RFC: Tries: Jason Kiely, Sam Birrane 2, Aaron Rice. Conversions: Evan Cusack 4.

Dolphin: Hunter Yarrell, Sam Boyle, Scott Sexton, Craig O’Connell (capt), Darragh Buckley, Cameron O’Shaughnessy, Ryan Foley, Finn Cowhig, Max Abbott, Dalton O’Shaughnessy, Brian O’Mahony, Matt Barry, Eoin Sheehan, Conor Drummey, Richie Heaslip. Replacements: Philip Elwood, David Byrne, James Vaughan, David O’Mahony, Daryl Foley.

Thomond RFC: Jamie McGarry, Jason Kiely, Luke Fitzgerald, Jake Connolly, Sam Birrane, Evan Cusack, Aaron Rice, Peter Meyer, Colin Slater, Kian McGrath, Tom Goggin, Morgan Bateman, Riann O’Dwyer, Kealan McMahon (capt), Shane Kelly.
Replacements: Rian Burke, Sean Rice, Suliano Mainavolau, Joe Costello, Luke Costello.