Meanwhile, Clontarf came away with a 27-19 bonus point victory from St. Mary’s College, aided by hooker Dylan Donnellan’s brace of first half tries. Mary’s were first on the board when centre Myles Carey crossed early on, following a sharp pass out wide by Dave Fanagan.
Donnellan touched down off a lineout maul and Tadhg Bird supplied the conversion for a 7-5 ‘Tarf lead. An unconverted effort followed near the half-hour mark as a long passage of play ended with Donnellan once again scoring, under a pile of bodies.
Carey’s dynamic ball-carrying had been the highlight of the opening half and he was the architect of Mary’s second try in the 39th minute. He capped off a memorable dash down the left wing with a terrific one-handed offload to send full-back Mark Fogarty over. Bird replied with a penalty for a 15-12 scoreline.
Into the second period, the arrival on the pitch of ex-Munster, Connacht and Ulster scrum half Angus Lloyd served to strengthen Clontarf’s hand. Michael Noone, another ex-professional, grabbed an excellent try – finishing off some sparkling build-up play – in the 50th minute with young out-half Bird again converting.
Seven minutes from time, Andy Wood’s men bagged the bonus when Lloyd expertly dangled a grubber kick through for Michael Courtney to score in the right corner. Mary’s, who are a division below their opponents, battled on and took further encouragement from their performance when replacement hooker Steven O’Brien crossed right at the death.