Sunday's Well surge to top of the table

On a weekend in which much fancied Dungannon went under to local rivals Portadown, Sunday's Well surged to the top of Division Two as a result of their 23-6 win over Old Crescent at Musgrave Park yesterday.

The Cork side built up a 10-point lead by the interval and then absorbed intense pressure before pulling well clear. Greg Tuohy and player-coach Ian Calder scored rousing tries with Richard Daly contributing two conversions and two penalty goals to which Crescent could reply only with two penalties by Brian Begley.

In the Ulster derby at Stevenson Park on Saturday, Portadown turned up trumps against Dungannon. Few would have tipped Portadown to win despite a perfect start when Jeff Park scored a try inside the opening minute.

Dungannon came back to lead 16-10 at the break and all seemed cosy until Park struck again six minutes into the second half. Out-half Ricky McIlmoyle went over for another try for Portadown, converted it and added a penalty leaving Dungannon to chase the match. Two penalties from Ashley Blair, taking his total to five, was not enough as Portadown held on for the 27-22 victory.

Malone moved into a challenging position after a 7-3 defeat of close rivals Old Belvedere at Anglesea Road.

Malone scored a first-half try on one of their rare attacks when Michael Graham touched down after 23 minutes. But the home side might well have earned the points had the out-of-sorts Donal Martin landed a few more of the eight penalties on offer.

Wanderers kept in touch with the top sides with a narrow 16-15 win over Bective Rangers. Wanderers can thank Eric Olazabal who kicked three penalties and a conversion to add to a try from Dermot Finnegan.

Although the Bective pack got the upper hand in the latter stages allowing John Hannon and Des Johnston to grab tries that took them with a point of Wanderers, the difficult, crucial conversion was missed by Johnston.

Greystones added to Skerries' difficulties at Holmpatrick, recording their first win of the campaign. Skerries led 10-3 before Wayne Robertson touched down for Greystones before half-time. That seemed to be the spur as Dan McGettigan and Mark Evans added further tries to three penalties from Mark Wyse.

Yesterday, DLSP moved up the table with a hard-earned 13-6 victory over UCC at the Mardyke. Brian O'Mahony could land only two penalties for the home side whereas the visitors' out-half David O'Riordan enjoyed a 100 per cent return from two penalties and the conversion of a try by Shane Stephens.