Athlone, Tallaght win college finals
Athline IT 43 UL 32.
Athlone IT completed their four-in-a-row of Irish Colleges Division One titles by getting the better of University of Limerick in a 13-try thriller at Railway Union.
A blistering hat-trick of threes from UL centre Ronan Likely could not prevent Athlone from easing away in the third quarter. Niall Smullen's two early touchdowns were important in the building of a 29-15 half-time lead.
Srcum-half Karl Turley and blindside Adrian Hughes found weak points in the Limerick defence to put the issue beyond doubt and Likely’s third, a superb 70-metre burst, could do little to camouflage Athlone’s superiority.
Scorers:
Athlone IT: N Smullen 2 tries; K O’Gorman, A Hughes, K Turley, H Meyer, S Quinn try each; P Moloney 4 cons.
UL: R Likely 3 tries; T Ryan, J Healy, D Nicholas try each; J Leonard con.
Athlone IT: O Grennan; S Quinn (G Moodley 74), H Meyer, W Wallace, C Lavelle (A Downey 71); P Moloney, K Turley (M Brandon 71); B Moore (C Galvin 21), K O’Gorman, E Bracken, J Tormey, T Grey, A Hughes, R Bowe (P O’Donnell 73), N Smullen.
UL: T Hall (P Treacy ht); D Nicholas, R Likely, A O’Boyle, I Dowling; J Leonard, B Fitzgerald (Paul O’Connor 54); M Adams (Padraig O’Connor 63), T Ryan, DJ Collins, P Quinn, C Duggan, J Healy, C O’Beirne, S Roycroft.
Referee: Rogan, Leinster Branch.
Tallaght IT 28 Dundalk IT 12
Tallaght IT will look to be promoted to Division One after easily out-pointing Dundalk IT in the Irish Colleges Division Two final at Railway Union yesterday.
Dundalk’s determination kept them close enough to worry Tallaght at times, but there was no doubt that Tallaght had the greater threat with out-half Philip de Barra, openside Conor McGinn, centre David Page and scrum-half Evan O’Reilly claiming the vital tries.
Dundalk were not found wanting physically and they were rewarded with their own breakthroughs from prop Paddy Cooney and right wing Shane O’Keeffe.
Scorers:
Tallaght IT: P de Barra try, 4 cons; C McGinn, E O’Reilly, D Page try each.
Dundalk IT: P Cooney, S O’Keeffe try each; D Quirke con.
Tallaght IT: M Quinn; E Smith (T Sweeney 65), R Devlin, D Page, A Coughlan; P de Barra, E O’Reilly; K Molloy (J Walsh 75), O McCormack, R Patterson (S Corcoran 61), D Burke, B Moroney (S Cusack ht), J Barretto, C McGinn, A Dunlop.
Dundalk IT: C Finnigan; S O’Keeffe, M O’Gorman, A Kissane, R Gearnan; D Quirke, T Campbell; C Reynolds, S Burton, P Cooney, M Dorian, T O’Brien (B Lee 32), P Meegan, B Murphy, B Muldowney.
Referee: J Clancy, Leinster Branch.
