Ulster Bank League: Division 1A Reviews - CORK CONSTITUTION vs OLD BELVEDERE

CORK CONSTITUTION 16 OLD BELVEDERE 10, Temple Hill
Scorers: Cork Constitution: Tries: Brian Hayes, Luke Cahill; Pens: Tomas Quinlan 2
Old Belvedere: Try: Daniel Riordan; Con: Paul O'Keefe; Pen: Paul O'Keefe
HT: Cork Constitution 5 Old Belvedere 10

Cork Constitution hit Old Belvedere with 11 unanswered points in the second half of their hard-fought 16-10 victory at Temple Hill on Saturday afternoon.

Bottom side Belvedere battled hard throughout, but Luke Cahill's 68th-minute try, sandwiched by Tomas Quinlan's brace of penalties, saw Con deny them in what was a very tight contest played in cold and dry conditions.

Winless in the last four rounds, 'Belvo were 32-0 losers when they visited Con last season. However, this time around, Paul O'Keefe's early penalty from 30 metres out and a well-taken 18th-minute try from returning full-back Daniel Riordan, who found a hold down the blindside off a scrum near the 22-metre line, had them 10 points to the good.



With last Sunday's Munster Senior Cup success impacting their selection and overall performance here, Con struggled to make an impact in attack. They had a big workload in defence, especially when Conor Kindregan saw yellow, however his second row partner Brian Hayes opened the hosts' account three minutes before half-time, bursting straight through from a lineout for an unconverted try.



That gave the Leesiders something to build on at 10-5 down and they gradually wore the Dublin 4 outfit down, left-footed out-half Quinlan making it a two-point game with just a quarter of an hour remaining.

Brian Hickey's charges had dug themselves out of a hole away to Terenure in the last round and another strong finish here paid dividends as they closed to within a single point of second-placed Young Munster in the table.

Tireless number 8 Cahill forced his way over for a vital try, following up on winger JJ O'Neill's speedy break, and although the conversion was missed, Quinlan followed up with a well-struck 40-metre penalty in the last minute to settle the issue.