Ballymena 5
Galwegians 19
Galwegians recorded their first away victory to Ballymena in the All-Ireland League, outscoring their hosts by three tries to one at Eaton Park.
Having accounted for Dungannon at Crowley Park last week, this was their second successive AIB League win over Ulster opposition, and it ensured they retained the Des Dempsey Memorial Cup for another year.
Galwegians seemed up against it in the opening half as Ballymena dominated proceedings, but the home side made a number of costly errors at key moments to remain scoreless. Although their bulky pack made some decent yards, they lacked creativity behind the scrum, ensuring Galwegians were able to cope with anything thrown at them out wide.
Crucially, and against the run of play, the Blues grabbed the opening score before the break when winger John Cleary intercepted a pass and ran the full length of the pitch to touch down, with outhalf Matt Brandon converting for a 7-0 half-time lead.
Wegians then made the most of the slight wind advantage with Brandon keeping Ballymena pinned back with some strong kicking out of hand. Up front the pack gained confidence, once again led by inspirational skipper Ivan Muldoon. The hard work paid off when centre Chris Rodgers finished off from close range for a second try for a 12-0 lead.
This knocked the stuffing out of Ballymena, and Wegians continued to dominate proceedings. In the final quarter Cleary underlined his status as a top finisher when he raced over for his second and Wegians’ third try, with full-back Robert O'Beirne slotting the conversion this time.
Ballymena’s only consolation was a late try for fullback Jamie Smith.
Ballymena: J Smith; N Hall, I Whitten, S Mallon, T Seymour; T Woods (R Johnston 40 ), R McCrudden; C Henry, A Cupples (D Bradford 15 ), T Booth, R Young, I Caldwell, S Shawe (C Allen 62 mins ), A Ferguson (J Taggart 62 ), A Kirkpatrick.
Galwegians: R O'Beirne; J Cleary, C Brigl (T Ellard 51 ), C Rodgers, B Murphy; M Brandon, B Draper; R Dodd, J Muldoon, L Casserly, D Nolan, L Scahill, J Stephens (B McGovern 54 ), C Muldoon (A O'Sullivan 15 ), J Lyne.
Corinthians 27
Rainey Old Boys 17
Corinthians notched their third win on the trot in the division three against visitors to Cloonacauneen Rainey Old Boys.
The foundations for this victory were laid by the home pack, while Connacht-contracted Tim Donnelly's assured display at outhalf provided Corinthians with a steady hand on the tiller throughout.
The home outfit enjoyed a fine start when Donnelly sent winger Richie Forbes scampering away down the left touchline from his own half with less than two minutes played. A great offload from the tackle near Rainey's line to openside Sean Geraghty saw Corinthians open the scoring.
However Rainey came storming back to lead by 10-5 at the break. After Corinthians had kicked a restart out on the full to gift Rainey an attacking scrum in the home 22, scrumhalf Michael Wilson's switch pass sent former Ireland u-21 player Michael Glancy over on 16 minutes. He added the extras for a 7-5 lead before outhalf Gavin Martin dropped a goal to end the half’s scoring.
However Corinthians again started strong with a fine try by James Buckley that saw Donnelly and Darren Classens involved in the build up. Donnelly converted to edge his side in front, before darted over from the edge of the 22 moments later for a converted try to extend the lead to 19-10. The bonus point try came just before the hour when a well-judged box kick behind Rainey lines by scrumhalf Mick Roche bounced into Buckley's hands for his second try of the day.
With a 24-10 lead, Corinthians lost No 8 Rory Connelan to the sinbin, handing the initiative to the visitors. After withstanding a series of scrums Corinthians' defence was finally breached when the visiting number eight Richard McCrea barged over from close range with Glancey converting to leave it 24-17. Donnelly added a penalty to ensure a well deserved win for the hoome side.
Corinthians: R Ferguson, D Classens, J Buckley, W Williams, R Forbes, T Donnelly, M Roche, D Lillis, J Merrigan, D Small, P Cunningham, S Murphy, A Casanova, S Geraghty, R Connelan. Replacements, K Diffenthal for Ferguson (47m ), B McCann for Casanova (50m ), Mike Kelly for Lillis (70m ), John Dilleen for Murphy (77m ), Cian Begley for Forbes (77m ).
