An 11-point haul from out-half Craig Ronaldson gave Lansdowne the edge over local rivals Old Belvedere at Anglesea Road.

The visitors made a bright start, and Ronaldson kicked them into the lead with a fourth-minute penalty, but this was cancelled out seven minutes later by Belvedere’s Josh Glynn.

Lansdowne continued to threaten on the counter, and they registered the only try of the evening on 17 minutes, when Cian Ahern broke through the cover for a five-pointer that was easily converted by Ronaldson.

Glynn then narrowed the gap to four points (10-6) just before the break.

In a scrappy second period, Belvo managed to reduce the margin to the minimum on the hour mark when Glynn split the posts with a tricky kick on the right. However, Lansdowne held firm and Ronaldson restored their seven-point advantage with penalties in the 69th and 77th minutes.

OLD BELVEDERE — D Riordan; J Glynn, J Kennedy, A Wynne, D Mongan; G McDonald (A Sheehan h-t), F Lawlor; G Duffy (A Howard h-t) (G Duffy 64), P Hogan (K Buckley 49), P O’Reagan, D Moore, D White (C Mallen 51), J Eden-Whatiri, M Oyuga, J Conan.

LANSDOWNE — R McCarron; C Ahern, S Gahan, S Carey, M Healy; C Ronaldson, P O’Driscoll; J O’Connell, S Collins, M Moore (D O’Reilly 40+4), W Earle (D Mannion 64), T Beirne, C Ross, C Butterworth, R Boucher.

REF — S Gaffakin (IRFU)

Irish Independent