Quinlan is on target in fine Con victory
AIL RUGBY
OLD BELVEDERE…………………………… 14
CORK CONSTITUTION……………………… 20
Daire Walsh
A HAUL of 15 points from the boot of Tomas Quinlan proved crucial at Anglesea Road on Saturday afternoon, when Cork Constitution got the better of Old Belvedere in a fiercely-contested Ulster Bank League Division 1A encounter.
A stoppage-time penalty try helped Belvo to a losing bonus point, but thanks to an earlier five-pointer by replacement Graeme Lawlor, Con had already created significant daylight between the teams.
Quinlan opened the scoring from the kicking tee with just over a minute gone on the clock – after the hosts had knocked on from the kick-off. Con were dominating possession during the early stages, and they issued a double blow to their opponents in the 23rd-minute.
A yellow-card for Belvo winger Sean Coughlan was supplemented by a routine three-pointer from reliable fly-half Quinlan on this occasion. Belvo coped admirably with their temporary numerical disadvantage, before a third successful penalty from Quinlan in time added on ensured that the visitors had developed a 9-0 interval cushion.
As a result, Brian Hickey’s charges were full of confidence when the action resumed, and after receiving a precise off-load from scrum-half Jason Higgins four minutes after the restart, Lawlor drove over the whitewash in clinical fashion.
Quinlan was surprisingly off-target from the subsequent bonus kick, but he made amends with another successful penalty on the stroke of 50 minutes. This opened up a seemingly insurmountable 17-point cushion, but after Con winger Rob Jermyn was issued with a yellow-card, the south Dubliners finally opened their account with a well-taken converted try from Coughlan on the hour mark.
Belvo did claim a losing bonus point after Steve Crosbie converted a penalty try at the death.
Scorers for Old Belvedere: Sean Coughlan try, Penalty Try, Steve Crosbie 2 cons.
Scorers for Cork Constitution: Graeme Lawlor try, Tomas Quinlan 5 pens.
OLD BELVEDERE: Danny Riordan; Shane McDonald, John Kennedy, Steve Crosbie, Sean Coughlan; William Staunton, Aaron Sheehan; Adam Howard, Edward Rossiter, Declan Lavery; Jack Kelly, Matt Ritani; Michael Oyuga, Paul Pritchard, Karl Miller.
Replacements:Cathal O’Flynn, Daryl Ryan, Tom De Jongh, Simon Killeen, Charlie Rock.
CORK CONSTITUTION: Shane Daly; Liam O’Connell, Ned Hodson, Niall Kenneally, Rob Jermyn; Tomas Quinlan, Jason Higgins; Liam O’Connor, Max Abbott, Rory Burke; Conor Kindergan, Brian Hayes; Sonny Dwyer, James Murphy, Evan Mintern.
Replacements: Greg Roche, Gavin Duffy, Graeme Lawlor, Michael Clune, John Poland.
Referee: Mark Patton (IRFU).