TERENURE COLLEGE 25
SHANNON 17
A BRACE of opening-half tries by Shane Donovan proved crucial at Lakelands Park yesterday afternoon, as Terenure College held off a strong fight-back by Shannon to maintain their 100 per cent start to life in 1B.
A 13th-minute penalty by out-half Mark O’Neill had helped ‘Nure break the deadlock, and even though Shannon registered a converted try courtesy of powerful No 8 David Quinlan, the reliable O’Neill quickly reduced the home side’s deficit to the bare minimum.
Terenure started to dominate, and a strong drive from a maul led to a penalty try on 22 minutes. This opened the floodgates, and further five-pointers by Donovan in the 25th and 29th minutes respectively gave the south Dubliners a seemingly insurmountable 25-7 interval lead. However, Shannon made a positive start upon the resumption, and narrowed the gap thanks to a Gearoid Lyons penalty. Conor Glynn crossed for the visitors 12 minutes from time but they were unable to close the gap.