Constitution stay ahead

ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE FIRST DIVISIONCORK CONSTITUTION maintained their primacy in the AIB League Division One with a hard-fought 18-16 victory away to Ballymena at Eaton Park on Saturday. The Ulster side are comfortably ensconced in mid-table but they made the visitors fight very hard to take the spoils back to Cork.

Con's Richie Lane grabbed a brace of tries that moved him to the top of the division's try-scoring list for the season with nine, but it required a late penalty from outhalf Jeremy Manning to seal the win. Ballymena's Chris Henry scored a try and Craig Woods tagging on 11 points with the boot.

Shannon stayed in second place by taking a bonus point despite losing at Musgrave Park yesterday to Dolphin, whose first AIB League win over Shannon keeps them in play-off contention.

George Finn grabbed an eighth-minute try for Dolphin, who led 10-0 at half-time.

Shannon levelled at 13-13 with a Stephen Kelly try and David O'Donovan and Andrew Thompson penalties but a late Rory Kenneally try decided the game, 18-13.

Garryowen, faced with a potentially tricky away match against Galwegians, passed the test comfortably with a 20-7 victory at Crowley Park on Saturday. Frank McKenna and Mark Melbourne managed a try apiece while fullback Conor Kilroy contributed 10 points as the Limerick side won their eighth match in succession.

Galwegians, having trailed 10-0 at the break, grabbed a late try through Alipate Tuilevuka.

Clontarf maintained their challenge for a play-off place with a hard-fought 23-19 victory over Dungannon at Stevenson Park.

The home side managed a try from Thomas Anderson, a son of the former Ireland international Willie, and four penalties from the boot of Richard McCarter but a late penalty from Darragh O'Shea gave Clontarf a cushion and they held on until the end.

At the other end of the table Greystones posted a superb 25-18 win over UCD at Dr Hickey Park that took them four points clear of Lansdowne. Although trailing 15-12 at the interval to three unconverted tries from wings Vasily Artemiev and Cian Aherne and prop John Lee, they fought back, grabbing three tries of their own through Jamie Hagan, Stuart O'Connell and Dave McKechnie.

Lansdowne lost 35-14 away to Old Belvedere, conceding tries to Felix Jones, Eoin O'Malley, Tim Jago (two) and Richie Leyden.

Terenure got their first win in 10 league matches, beating St Mary's 31-20 at Templeville Road. Scrumhalf Mark Mahony scored three tries for the winners.

A late try from scrumhalf David Moore gave Blackrock a 23-20 win over UL Bohemian in Limerick.