By 
DUNGANNON and Energia All-Ireland League 2A leaders, MU Barnhall, served up an entertaining top of the table clash at Parsonstown on Saturday when 82 points were shared between the sides.
The home side got off to a bright start, engineering a 12-0 lead after only 14 minutes thanks to tries from Shane Mallon and Matias Gianetti, with one being converted by Neil Byrne.
Dungannon battled back with Ben McCaughey converting a Toby Gribben score before the teams swapped penalties with McCaughey and Byrne both successful off the tee.
Unfortunately for the visitors, who were without nine backs on the day, James Girvan picked up a yellow card on the half hour mark and Barnhall were able to take advantage of their numerical advantage with Shane Mallon and Conor Duggan both scoring tries converted by Byrne as the hosts stretched their lead from 15-10 to 29-10 at the break. And that spell proved decisive in the contest as a whole.
After the interval, Dungannon set about achieving their main goal for the day, to earn a bonus point for their efforts and on 53 minutes they moved closer to achieving that aim when Jacob Clarke dotted down and McCaughey converted.
But again, Barnhall responded with a Cathal Duff try converted by Neil Byrne before the back and forth nature of the encounter continued with Clarke striking again and McCaughey adding the extras.
Byrne then converted his own try to make it 41-24 on 64 minutes before Conor Neville crossed the whitewash.
With seven minutes to go, James Gamble grabbed Dungannon’s all important fourth try to claim the bonus point that keeps them second in the table, two points ahead of Shannon, while Barnhall concluded the scoring to reach the 50-points mark thanks to a Byrne penalty.
“Out team talk was let’s score four tries because we knew we’d have had to play very well to get two [points] and not made a few mistakes, which we did,” Dungannon head coach, Jonny Gillespie said.
“The target was four tries and we managed to achieve that. They are a very good side and we kicked stupidly a few times, we conceded two tries right before half-time, which was effectively the contest in the nutshell. They will be deserving 2A winners but we’re not a million miles away.
“I thought the forward pack was much more combative this week and they won the bonus point for us. We’ll take it, get back up the road and enjoy a week off.”
Try-scoring bonus points have been thin on the ground for Dungannon this ter.
Despite winning nine of their 12 games before Saturday, they had earned an extra point for four tries just three points and while pleased with that aspect of their performance at Barnhall, Gillespie was even more delighted with his forwards, who he hopes can continue their form during the run-in.
“We’ve been involved in tight games,” he acknowledged. “Each of the nine [wins], apart from one or two, have been single point games.
“Our lineout hasn’t been solid enough to give us a platform to push on for four tries, so we’ve had to do it the hard way.
“But I thought the pack stood up today [Saturday] and earned that as a unit and it gives us something to look forward to and build on for the last five games.”
