Ulster Bank League Rugby Review
CORK CONSTITUTION brought Ballynahinch's two-match winning run to a shuddering halt by hammering the hosts 38-3 at Ballymacarn Park in the Ulster Bank League Division 1A.
Constitution dominated from start-to-finish, with Darragh Lyons and Tomas Quinlan using a first-half wind advantage to give the visitors a lion's share of territory. The Ballynahinch forwards struggled to stop the Leesiders' rolling maul, and a 12-man effort helped Con on their way to a 17-0 half-time.
Indeed, four of their five tries were scored by forwards, with number eight and captain James Ryan crashing over twice, openside James Murphy scoring just after the break and young hooker Max Abbott grabbing his second in as many games.
Replacement scrum-half Jason Higgins also got his name on the scoresheet, while Ballynahinch's only points of the afternoon came from winger Chris Quinn's second-half penalty.
The result keeps sixth-placed Con within reach of the play-off positions, while bottom side 'Hinch remain two points behind fellow strugglers Terenure.
Meanwhile, in Division 1B, Ballymena suffered a significant setback in the race for promotion as they went down 15-12 to leaders St Mary's College. It was back-to-back defeats for Ballymena at their Eaton Park fortress, with St Mary's striking in injury-time for the decisive try from a lineout maul.
Young hooker Hugo Kean touched early in the second-half and also in the dying seconds when Mary's sent a penalty to the corner, won the lineout and both backs and forwards combined in a muscular drive over the line.
The Braid men were leading 6-3 at half-time and two more penalties from Ritchie McMaster (his third of the day) and replacement Andrew Magrath had them on the cusp of a 12-8 victory. However, Mary's denied them right at the death, showing impressive battling qualities as they recovered from yellow cards for Brian McGovern and Darragh Fanning in each half.
The last-gasp win has the Dubliners five points clear at the summit, with Ballymena dropping to third place, a further three points back. Dublin University leapfrogged over Ballymena into second place, but they did not have it all their own way against bottom side Belfast Harlequins.
Trinity ran out 22-11 winners at a very wet and windy Deramore Park, bagging a bonus point through out-half Jack McDermott's late try. That took what would have been a deserved losing bonus point away from 'Quins, who fought valiantly throughout, particularly when they had second-row Callum Leckey sin-binned in the first-half.
Two Ben Sloan penalties saw them recover to trail 10-6 at the interval. The visitors, playing into a strong wind, had opened the scoring in the 17th minute when McDermott's break teed up a try for full-back Conor Kearns. A second unconverted try followed from lock Jack Burke off a 25th minute maul, and Trinity opened the second period with a Tom Ryan try after an initial surge from winger Tim Maupin.
McDermott's conversion made it 17-6 and, although 'Quins number eight Matthew Fisher crashed over following a strong set of phases from the home pack, Trinity finished the stronger despite having busy flanker Brian du Toit yellow carded.
