While Charleville now look firmly in the Division 3B driving seat, the battle for the second end-of-season promotion play-off spot remarkably remains a five-horse race.
Waterford City, despite losing four of their eight games to date, currently sit second due in no small part to the seven bonus points they’ve won in what’s been an action packed campaign.
Their 31-19 win over Shandon featured another ‘BP, with Conan Watt grabbing a brace of tries; the other touchdowns recorded by Sean O’Mahoney and Dale Ryan. Aaron Foskin had another excellent afternoon off the boot, converting three tries, along with a penalty and drop goal.
The only negative to emerge from Sunday’s win for City was John Cullinane’s injury, who’ll have one foot up a little more than he’d like over Christmas due to a fractured ankle incurred at a lineout.
Carrick, whose Second XV also went down heavily against a mammoth Galbally pack on Saturday last, saw their stranglehold on second spot broken following a 19-point defeat in Mallow.
Two Michael Cronin penalties were the only scores the Tybroughney men registered on a day that the East Cork men exacted some revenge for their O’Sullivan Cup final defeat.
Carrick, who have a game in hand over City, now know that the visit of Fermoy, scheduled for next weekend, is a must win affair. However, results to date make predicting what happens next in 3B one hell of a risky gamble.
Dungarvan, buoyed by their win over Shandon and denied a last gap win the previous weekend, came within a whisker of victory against Douglas in Ballyrandle.
Michael Irwin was the hosts’ solitary scorer, with the visitors taking the win thanks to a Denis O’Driscoll try, converted by Andy Larkin.
Charleville remain the 3B pacesetters thanks to a 12-5 win over Fermoy on Sunday last. It’s been an intriguing campaign thus far; one which looks set to keep training numbers high at quite a number of clubs over the next couple of months.
* Carrick-on-Suir RFC hosts its annual fancy dress tag rugby tournament at Tybroughney on Saint Stephen’s Day, December 26th, commencing at 1pm. The seven-a-side teams must contain at least one female player and at least three junior players aged 14 and over. For further details, call Ken on 087-680 7644 and teams must be registered by Friday, December 18th. All proceeds on the day will be donated to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (Saint Mollerans and Saint Nicholas branches).
