ST ANDREW'S progressed to the second round courtesy of a four try victory over Skerries at Sydney Parade. The Blackrock outfit went in front thanks to a penalty from number eight, Peter Bracken, after 12 minutes.

Despite dominating the possession, they found it hard to stretch a resilient Skerries defence and were punished when a penalty from scrum half Emmet Rock level led the scores.

Almost immediately, St Andrew's attacked and were rewarded when captain Michael Walsh drove over the line for a try, which was converted by Bracken.

Before Skerries could recover, David Hewitt was caught in possession behind his own scrum by Andrew Boyd, who crossed the line to give St Andrew's a 15-3 half time lead.

St Andrew's increased their advantage 13 minutes into the second half when their dominant pack provided the platform for a sweeping back line move which ended with centre Paul McClatchie scoring a try.

Winger Chris Kelly scored his side's fourth try close to the end after Bracken initiated a clever blind side movement and Chris Sparks added a conversion to his earlier penalty to hand victory to Tony Ward's charges.