Clontarf maintain lead at the top

AIB Division One Round-up : Clontarf maintained their lead at the top of the AIB League Division One with a 26-8 win over Blackrock…

AIB Division One Round-up: Clontarf maintained their lead at the top of the AIB League Division One with a 26-8 win over Blackrock but Shannon kept up the pressure with their 36-9 win over UCD.

Scrum-half Paul O'Donohoe put in a man-of-the-match performance at Castle Avenue as Clontarf now find themselves five points clear of nearest challengers Shannon.

Blackrock went ahead through the boot of Darragh Fitzpatrick but the home side stuck to their plans to open up a 10-3 lead at the break.

Indiscipline saw Blackrock pair David Moore and David Rowan sin-binned which eased the way for Martin Dufficy to score Clontarf's opening try.

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Further tries came from Michael Keating and O'Donohoe as the league leaders recorded their fifth straight league win.

Eoghan Grace crossed the line twice for Shannon as they had an easy afternoon at Coonagh against the UCD students. The win moved the Limerick side up to second in the table.

Shannon led 26-6 at the break and never looked back. Flanker Grace and prop Kevin Griffin both touched down while centre Andrew Thompson added a third try.

Although UCD fullback Simon Gillespie converted three penalties, Shannon number 10 Tadhg Bennett was equally impressive with his personal tally of 16 points for the afternoon.

AIL Division One Results

Ballymena 34-3 Terenure College
Clontarf 26-8 Blackrock College
Cork Constitution 25-7 Galwegians
Dolphin 38-3 St Mary's College
Dungannon 23-36 Buccaneers
Old Belvedere 14-26 Garryowen
Shannon 36-9 UCD
UL Bohemians 24-6 Young Munster