AIL 1: Week 2 Wrap

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City of Armagh continue to fly the flag for Ulster Clubs in the top two leagues with a win on the road against St Mary’s in Week 2 of the Energia AIL. 

In 1A Hinch suffered a big loss at table toppers UCC and in 1B Banbridge lost at home to, their table toppers, Highfield and Malone continued to miss fire, losing at home to Shannon. 

Malone, Hinch and Banbridge have supplied the core of the Ulster A players for the Celtic Cup so it might take them a week or two to get their season up and running now that the Celtic Cup has ended. Hopefully we’ll start and see the big W’s on their side of the score sheet in the next few rounds. 

AIL 1A

The results from Week 2 are shown below. 

The results see Ballynahinch slip down to 9th, but, as we said above, they still have a fair few of their players to return to their squad from Ulster A duties. 

They entertain UCD at Ballymacarn Park this weekend in what should be an exciting encounter with the students also welcoming back some of their Leinster A players. 

The results leave the league table as follows. 

There was a big increase in points scored this week, 249 compared to 167 the previous week with the weekly try total more than doubling, moving from a sedate 16 in Week 1 to 35 in Week 2. With the teams showing more ambition the penalty conversion count dropped from 21 to 12. 

Lansdowne’s Tim Foley retains top spot and Cork Con’s Aidan Moynihan moves up a couple of places following their win at Clontarf. 

League leaders Cork Con have two players, Matt Bowen and Murray Linn on three tries apiece, alongside Lansdowne’s Adam Leavy, and we’ll start and break out the leading try scorers in the coming weeks. 

Despite being on the losing side at the weekend, Ballynahinch’s Sean O’Hagan’s six points from two penalties keep him in the top three for points scored.

PLAYERCLUBTCPDGTOT
Tim FoleyLansdowne054022
Jamie HeustonGarryowen133020
Sean O’HaganBallynahinch016020
Aidan MoynihanCork Constitution043017
Evan CusackYoung Munster024016
Adam LeavyLansdowne300015
Matt BowenUCC300015
Murray LinnUCC300015
Michael O’KennedyDublin University042014
James TaylorUCC032012
Mark O’NeillTerenure College032012
AIL 1A Scorers – Week 2.

AIL 1B 

As we said at the start City of Armagh are the only Ulster club have those big W’s against their name but their unbeaten start hasn’t been enough to get to the top of the league with Highfield and Old Belvedere both picking up try bonus wins at the weekend. 

The results are below. 

Malone and Banbridge meet his coming weekend at Gibson Park with both teams keen to get their season up and running. 

The results give the current standings as follows. 

As with 1A, 1B also bumped their weekly points by a fair margin rising from 152 points in Week 1 to 231 points in Week 2. Tries scored, on a weekly basis, rose form 13 to 31 and penalties converted dropped from 21 to 12. 

It is great to see both leagues respond in this way and hopefully it will bring more supporters to the clubs. 

Old Belvedere’s Steve Crosbie and Highfield’s Shane O’Riordan stay at 1 and 2 respectively in the scorers table but the big mover this week is Highfield’s Colin O’Neill who banged in four against Banbridge. 

City of Armagh’s Cormac Fox is the only Ulster club player in the top ten. 

As with 1A we’ll start and separate out the leading try scorers and the individual club scorers tables in the coming weeks. 

PLAYERCLUBTCPDGTOT
Steve CrosbieOld Belvedere1310041
Shane O’RiordanHighfield082022
Colin O’NeillHighfield400020
Rory StynesOld Wesley025019
Cormac FoxCity of Armagh034018
James McKeownOld Belvedere300015
Pa RyanShannon300015
Penalty TrySt Mary’s College220014
Billy GrayShannon032012
Evan DixonNavan200010
Fionn HigginsNaas200010
AIL 1B Scorers – Week 2

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