Dungannon captain Gary Leslie admitted that he had targeted this game as a twopointer but left Cork for the long journey home knowing that his side did not deserve the victory.

Not even the fact that Dungannon scored the only tries of the game could convince him that justice would have been done if the result had been reversed. "We didn't play at all in the first half and when we did get back into the match we let it drift again. At 15-10 we were in the ideal position to pick them off but took the foot off the pedal."

Leslie could only watch and admire as Dolphin survived a 10-minute spell of pressure in the third quarter. "They certainly put in the tackles and knocked us back."

Without regular goal-kicker Conor Mahony, Dolphins turned to John O'Mahony for inspiration. The forwards provided the platform but O'Mahony came up trumps as he knocked over four first half penalty goals to add to Barry O'Neill's drop goal.

Dungannon hit back brilliantly with tries in the third and 12th minute of the second half from Ronnie Carey and Charlie Simpson but afterwards ran into the proverbial brick wall. O'Mahony grabbed another penalty and Dolphin tackled like demons to protect their lead.

It was uncomfortable at times but victory was no less than they deserved.