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DUNGANNON bounced back from defeat to league leaders MU Barnhall a week earlier by picking up a try-scoring bonus point win at Banbridge on Saturday to cement their grip on second place in the Energia All-Ireland League 2A table.
After falling five points behind after only three minutes, Jonny Gillespie’s men responded to lead after five when Peter Nelson converted James Gamble’s try.
Banbridge responded through an Andrew Jackson penalty, but when Matthew Heasley was yellow-carded, Dungannon were unable to take advantage of their numerical superiority.
After the interval they regained the lead when Nelson converted David Leyburn’s score but back came ‘Bridge through a Robin Stinson try, converted by Jackson. The see-saw nature of the clash continued when Nelson converted a Matthew Maguire score just before the hour as Dungannon led 15-21, but the home side narrowed the gap to the minimum five minutes later when Adam Doherty scored an unconverted effort.
Dungannon earned some breathing space with 10 minutes to go when Adam Milligan dotted down and Nelson added the extras, but they were never comfortable as Banbridge struck back at the death with an unconverted Doherty score that left just three points between the sides in the end.
Despite the narrow deficit in the end against the bottom team in the league, Dungannon head coach, Gillespie, was pleased to see his side get back to winning ways following a draw and a defeat in their previous two fixtures.
“It was pleasing to get five points on the road, I’m happy with the response,” he said. “It was important to get back on it today [Saturday] but Banbridge have been above us for a long, long time so this is probably a truer reflection of where we sit on our wee journey and I’m content with the attitude from the group, which was bang-on today.
“They have good players, they have vast experience there, a dominant front row, so we knew we were going to be under the pump. I think Banbridge are better than their league position suggests so it was one that we just wanted to win.
“If it was dirty, by a point, or a last minute drop goal, we didn’t care, we just had to get a result to show we are still serious contenders in this league.”
