TWO spectacular tries from left wing David O'Brien paved the way for an important victory for Cork Constitution at Temple Hill on Saturday.

O'Brien's move from fullback yielded a rich harvest for the youngster, who has attracted the attentions of a couple of top English clubs. He switched places with former international Kenny Murphy and the move was clearly of benefit to both players and to Constitution themselves.

The two trys smashed the Ballymena challenge, and even though they responded to cut a 14 point half time deficit to just a couple of points, they had too much ground to make up.

But if the match was rather poor and the Constitution display erratic, their tries were absolutely superb.

After Gareth Harron and Ronan O'Gara exchanged penalties, O'Brien stepped in to cruise through the Ballymena defence for a brilliant, ninth minute try which O'Gara converted.

The out halfs exchanged further penalties until O'Brien again brightened the proceedings with a second try, again converted by O'Gara.

John Law and Dean McCartney threatened to wreck the celebrations when they each scored tries in the opening minutes of the second half. A conversion from Harron gave Ballymena their 18 point total and considerable hope.

But Constitution rallied. O'Gara settled them down with a penalty, and 12 minutes from the end Ultan O'Callaghan finished off a smashing move for a try which O'Gara converted.