Ahern try crucial
By Daire Walsh
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Old Belvedere 9 Lansdowne 16
An 11-point haul from out-half Craig Ronaldson, and an opening period try from Cian Ahern, proved decisive as Lansdowne got the better of local rivals Old Belvedere in a keenly-fought Ulster Bank League Division 1A tie.
Ronaldson kicked the visitors into the lead with a 4th minute penalty, but this was cancelled out seven minutes later by a similar effort from Belvedere’s Josh Glynn.
Lansdowne registered the only try of the evening on 17 minutes, when Ahern broke through the Belvo cover. Ronaldson converted.
Glynn was off-target with a brace of penalties but finally got it right in first-half stoppage time, as his second successful penalty brought the Lansdowne lead down to four (10-6).
Belvo reduced the margin to the bare minimum on the hour mark when Glynn split the posts.
However, Lansdowne held firm and the ever-reliable 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, F Lawlor; G Duffy, P Hogan, P O’Reagan, D Moore, D White, J Eden-Whatiri, M Oyuga, J Conan.
Replacements: A Sheehan for McDonald (h-t), A Howard for Duffy (h-t), K Buckley for Hogan (49), C Mallen for White (51), Duffy for Howard (64).
LANSDOWNE: R McCarron; C Ahern, S Gahan, S Carey, M Healy; C Ronaldson, P O’Driscoll; J O’Connell, S Collins, M Moore, W Earle, T Beirne, C Ross, C Butterworth, R Boucher.
Replacements: D O’Reilly for Moore (40+4), D Mannion for Earls (64).
Referee: S Gaffakin (IRFU).