DESPITE dropping their first point of the campaign, Old Crescent managed to hang on to top spot in the second division of the AIL. Given that they had to rely on a Brian Begley penalty 10 minutes from time, they will be happy enough with that.
By any account this was a highly charged affair, and a costly one for Greystones number eight John O'Beirne. The day started well enough for him when he came in as a replacement for the injured Alan Dignam, but it ended prematurely when, after the intervention of touchjudge Brian O'Neill, O'Beirne was sent off for stamping.
Despite that, Grestones will be reasonably satisfied with the result for they had to fight hard against a dominant Crescent side to earn it. Inevitably, it was their young out-half who kept them in the match; 99 of their 126 league points have come from the boot of Richie Murphy. When you consider that his tally from all matches is an astounding 364, it is easy to understand why Greystones dread the prospect of his ever being injured. Not surprisingly he leads the division, having taken over from Keith McGarry who missed Dungannon's draw with Sunday's Well at Musgrave Park.
That affair was fairly passionate as well, but with none of the bad blood. And there was plenty of late drama too with a tremendous try from hooker Fintan Whelan bringing Sunday's Well level at 27-27. They had a chance to win it but Richie Daly and then Conor Burke were off target with penalty attempts.
Terenure, meanwhile, squeezed in between Crescent and Dungannon thanks to an another enterprising display. They broke the 30-point barrier for the second week running - which was enough to give them victory against North - while for Dolphin, the achievement of clocking up 24 points - also a repeat of last week - was again not enough, this time against Clontarf.
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