AIL round-up: St Mary’s hold off Clontarf comeback on day of eye-catching results

Where to start? On a glorious October day, the Energia All-Ireland League rained tries and thrillers, with hexes extended and surprises plentiful among some truly eye-catching results.

St Mary’s withstood a thunderous second-half comeback by Clontarf in front of a large and rapt Templeville Road crowd to repeat their win in last May’s final. Dan Goggin’s try, to augment earlier efforts by Richie Bergin and Conor Pierce, earned Mary’s a 33-14 interval lead and Mick O’Gara’s fifth penalty in a 21-point haul had them 36-19 ahead. But the prolific Dylan Donnellan scored three of Tarf’s five tries before Mary’s repelled one final attack.