AIL wrap: Dominant Lansdowne power past Nenagh Ormond

St Mary’s remained atop the All-Ireland League Division 1A with arguably the performance of the season when scoring nine tries in a stunning 57-19 win over Cork Constitution at Temple Hill.

Mick O’Gara opened the scoring after good work by fellow centre Aaron O’Sullivan before two fine finishes by speedy fullback Ruairi Shields.

In first-half overtime the visitors went to the corner and sealed the bonus point with a penalty try and soon after the interval winger Zach Hopkins’ try sealed the outcome. Josh Gimblett, Ethan Baxter, Greg Jones and Conor Pierce added further tries as St Mary’s (54 points) maintained their one-point lead over Clontarf.

While “hugely satisfied” with the performance, Mark McHugh cautioned: “I said it to the guys after the game, we need to be humble about this and recognise that Con were off today and they had a lot of guys missing.

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“We played outstandingly well, but we need to improve if we want to be really competitive at play-off time, which is what we want to be.”

With four rounds remaining Con (41) have slipped to fifth. Injuries to captain Jack Kelleher, Mark Donnelly, Danny Sheehan, and Eoghan Smyth were compounded by having to manage Michael Foy’s gametime.

“Yeah, we’re down a bit of quality but we always back what’s inside here,” said head coach Jonny Holland. “So, I won’t take any defeat by saying we’re down a few.”

“The league is a really good product but it’s very hard to coach, because it’s relentless, but it feels like it’s still within our grasp,” said Holland, whose side are in four-way tussle for two playoffs places.

St Mary’s and Clontarf have opened up a 10-point gap on the rest and look like earning home semi-finals for the second season running; Dylan Donnellan scoring another three of Clontarf’s eight tries in a 48-28 win in the UCD Bowl.

Terenure (43) climbed two places to third after also scoring eight tries in a 52-22 win over Ballynahinch at Lakelands Park in their first game under interim head coach Paul Barr.

The ex-Ireland Sevens player Ed Kelly scored twice, and similarly Lansdowne (42) climbed to fourth 42 after another ex-Ireland Sevens winger Tom Roche set them on their way to a bonus point by half-time by scoring two of their eight tries in a 45-19 win away to Nenagh Ormond.

Young Munster dropped to sixth on 40 points after a 19-15 loss away to Old Belvedere, who climbed above Ballynahinch into seventh.

In 2B, in-form Dublin University closed to within three points of Old Wesley, who were beaten 24-19 at home by Garryowen, by ending Instonians’ 33-game unbeaten run at Shaw’s Bridge with a superb 29-12 win.

MU Barnhall and Galwegians each moved to one more win of securing the 2A and 2B titles with 28-14 and 19-0 victories in Banbridge and Sligo, while in 2C Ballyclare remarkably recovered from a 35-0 deficit to beat Bective Rangers 45-42 at home.