Cork Constitution Are Champions
5th May 2019 By Leonard Allen
Rob Jermyn was man of the match in Cork Constitution's All Ireland League victory.
Cork Constitution have regained the All Ireland League trophy for a sixth time after a deserving 28-13 win over Clontarf in the final at the Aviva Stadium.
Cork Con’s captain Niall Kenneally was replaced by Alex McHenry before the kick-off and Ross O’Neill was added to the replacements.
Brian Hayes took over the captaincy.
Clontarf enjoyed the opening stages but Con’s first attack produced a great try with a break by Seán French setting up Shane Daly for the touchdown and Aidan Moynihan converted after eleven minutes.
A yellow card for McHenry saw Clontarf open their account with a penalty by David Joyce on sixteen minutes. The Dublin side were rocked minutes later when man of the match Rob Jermyn cut through the Clontarf defence to score and Moynihan’s conversion made it 14-3.
Clontarf were inside the Con’ 22 for the second quarter and a lot of it close to the line with Jermyn again on hand to stop a certain try.
Clontarf’s pressure was eventually rewarded from a quickly taken penalty when Matt D’Arcy barged over for a try and Joyce converted to leave it 14-10 at half time.
Con’ were on top in the early stages of the second half and when they opted not to convert kickable penalties it looked like it might cost when a Joyce penalty on 53 minutes left the minimum between the sides.
However, the introduction of Duncan Williams saw him touch down in the corner shortly after his arrival on the field when Jermyn made a break.
Injuries to both Clontarf props saw the game go to uncontested as Clontarf had to play with 14 players for the rest of the game.
Three penalties from Moynihan in the final quarter saw Con’ run out worthy winners.
Cork Constitution: Liam O’Connell, Sean French, Shane Daly, Alex McHenry, Robert Jermyn, Aidan Moynihan, Jason Higgins, Gavin Duffy, Vincent O’Brien, Dylan Murphy, Brian Hayes, Evan Mintern, Joseph McSwiney, Kevin Sheahan, Luke Cahill.
Replacements: Max Abbott, Brendan Quinlan, Patrick Casey, James Murphy, Ross O’Neill, Duncan Williams, Jonathan Wren.
