Lansdowne steer clear of drop zone for now

Lansdowne - 29 St Mary's College - 10 Things are getting clearer down the bottom end of the division One table. St Mary's are now staring down the barrel of a gun. Lansdowne are still in trouble, but they showed they have more power in reserve with a fine forward display on Saturday.

The goal for St Mary's this year was to rebuild, regroup and stay in the top flight. Unfortunately two out of three isn't much use.

Brent Pope's men really could have done with Ciarán Potts on Saturday. In his absence the only hard yards merchant was David Clare as a lightweight pack struggled to deal with a more experienced Lansdowne. It was clear early on this was the home side's game to win or lose.

Willie Duggan drew first blood for the visitors with an early try, after a great break by centre Graham Crawford. However, it was soon cancelled out by Lansdowne's dual penalty takers Andy Tallon and Shane Whelan.

Then, their pack really began to turn the screw. After sustained attempts to maul over the line, Karl Becker came off his wing to exploit a gap wide on the right. Tallon converted to leave it 13-7 at the interval.

St Mary's clung on valiantly for most of the second half as Pope emptied his bench in search of inspiration. However, the killer blow came in the 67th minute. Lansdowne came at them through the forwards and after switching the point of attack, flanker Jim O'Donovan bumped off winger Paddy Lane to cross in the corner. 21-10. Game Over.

Fiachra Baynes added another try late on, thanks to some quick hands from Becker and Brian O'Mahony, to pull Lansdowne three points clear of the relegation zone.

Scoring sequence: 11 mins: W Duggan try 0-5, B Lynn con 0-7; 15 mins: A Tallon pen 3-7; 20 mins: S Whelan pen 6-7; 24 mins: K Becker try 11-7, Tallon con 13-7; 49 mins: Whelan pen 16-7; 52 mins: Lynn pen 16-10; 67 mins: J O'Donovan try 21-10; 78 mins: Tallon pen 24-10; 85 mins: F Baynes try 29-10.

LANSDOWNE: B O'Mahony; F Baynes, P Morehan, K Kennedsy, K Becker; A Tallon, S Whelan; E Bohan, R Fallon, A McKeen, S O'Connor, B Cusack, J O'Donovan, N Ronan, S Rooney.

ST MARY'S COLLEGE: D Hughes; P Lane, K Gilligan, G Crawford, R Smyth; B Lynn, E McCormack; M Duggan, P Smyth, D Clare, P Kelly, J Ryan (capt), J Ellis, N Smith, W Duggan. Subs: B Moran for Clare (49 mins), R Sweeney for M Duggan, P Caldwell for McCormack (both 57 mins), G Ingles for Gillian (50 mins), N Culleton for Kelly (69 mins).

Referee: A Rogan (Leinster Branch).