Ireland 29; England 10
Five tries for the home side but truthfully this clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday was a case of a half-decent Ireland easing past a woefully poor England outfit rather than a vintage performance by the men in green.
Head Coach Andy Farrell will be glad to get minutes into the players’ legs but will probably be more concerned with the fitness of hooker Dan Sheehan, who came off in the first half, than the margin of victory on this occasion.
A second home Summer Nations Series win had little uplifting feel about it against an England side which seemed disinterested and undisciplined as Billy Vunipola was sent off for a poor tackle on Andrew Porter after 53 minutes - more problems for the England management on foot of the Owen Farrell incident against Wales the previous weekend.
Normally these “tests” provide both sets of coaches with an understanding of where they are in terms of preparation with only a few weeks left until the World Cup. This game may arguably perplex the respective managements on what to expect as lots of basic stuff like lineout calls and mauls went awry - the former for Ireland and the latter for the visitors.
Amid all the mediocrity there was at least one good piece of news as Munster’s Keith Earls scored a spectacular fifth try for Ireland after having come on to make his 100th cap for his country.
The centurion was brilliant and elegantly touched down - much to the delight of the big home crowd.
Winger Mack Hansen was the star turn on the day as he scored and made tries and his clever cross-field kick led to Garry Ringrose touching down. His fellow wing James Lowe also kicked well and both showed an appetite to seek work away from their wide stations close to the touchline.
There was good news too for those who like statistics as the result meant Ireland have now beaten the auld enemy for the fourth successive time while stretching our winning home record to a dozen on the bounce.
England had one flicker of hope when a penalty early on from George Ford saw them lead by 3-0 but thereafter they were playing second fiddle. Once Peter O’Mahony made a great break to feed Bundee Aki for a first try in the ninth minute, it was one-way traffic.
Hansen’s inch-perfect kick was perfectly caught by Ringrose who wrong-footed his potential tacklers by cutting inside to dip down for a second try to give Farrell’s charges a 12-3 interval advantage.
England continued to implode in and out of possession with Vinupola seeing red the nadir of the second 40 minutes for the visitors.
Ireland meanwhile continued to improve incrementally and when stand in stand off Ross Byrne fired a long pass, it allowed Lowe to record a third home try.
With Johnny Sexton sitting out the second of a three game ban following remarks to the referee after the Heineken Champions Cup final between La Rochelle and Leinters, Byrne had the chance to strut his wares. It was a mixed day for the Leinster man, who kicked poorly but combined really well with his three-quarters to allow Lowe and later Hansen the simplest of tasks thanks to his pass taking out two to three defenders.
Replacement Kyle Sinckler got in for England's only touchdown but by then the game was long over as a contest.
Ireland will this weekend face their final game when they head to France to the south of France to face Samoa. They will hope to iron out some of the problems highlighted in this game which did not work.
Meanwhile in time the only one who will really look back on this game with any great satisfaction will be Earls.
"It was a tough week I suppose with all the attention on the 100th cap but look, I’m delighted I’ve done it. I think I've been waiting to get these two caps since the New Zealand tour. To get it the way it worked out, in Dublin against England, there’s no better way. I’m very grateful to do it," he said.
The winger has to hope that at 34 he can still get into Andy Farrell's travelling squad for the upcoming World Cup.
Man of the match Hansen was happy enough at the outcome but aware of the shortcoming nonetheless. “It was good to get the win. Probably didn’t play as well as we wanted to, we came in feeling really confident this week that we could put them away. To be fair they’re a tough team, they gave it everything they had as well. They put us under a lot of pressure.”
Ireland: H Keenan; M Hansen, G Ringrose, B Aki, J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; T Beirne, J Ryan (capt); P O'Mahony, J van der Flier, C Prendergast Replacements: R Herring, J Loughman, F Bealham, J McCarthy, C Doris, C Murray, J Crowley, K Earls.
Éanna come out tops in Wexford hurling
Naomh Éanna 2-18 Oylegate-Glenbrien 2-12
Oylegate-Glenbrien made a fight of it but were overwhelmed by the sheer power and hurling elan of the Gorey side at Wexford Park on Sunday afternoon.
When the underdogs appearing in their first decider in 60 years made a bolt for home early in the second half and went a goal up, there was a moment when it looked like they were capable of causing a mighty shock.
Naomh Éeanna then showed why they had been champions recently and faced with the challenge, they now only accepted it but blew it away by taking control and outsourcing their opponents by eight points to ease to victory by game’s end.
Early green flags in either half gave Oylegate-Glenbrien great confidence but fresh from remembering a loss three years ago to Shelmaliers, the Saints made sure they would not be the bridesmaids on this occasion.
A fine crowd of almost 7,000 attended a very lively encounter and got full value for their money with Podge Doran’s goal giving the underdogs an early 1-2 to 0--0 lead.
A good sign of champions elect is an ability to deal with setbacks and by the eighth minutes, the winners were motoring thanks to a fine goal from Pádraig Doyle with Charlie McGuckin immediately tacking on a point.
The game went one way and then the other over the rest of the half and by the break it was even Steven at 1-8 apiece. Doran’s second major on the resumption suggested more of the same but the Gorey outfit then tightened the screw and gave their opponents little or no riggle room for the rest of the contest.
A flurry of points from McGuckian (three) and Conor McDonald put them on the front foot before county man McDonald sealed the issue after grabbing a high delivery to crash the ball home after 46 minutes.
Naomh Éanna: J Cushe; B Travers, E Molloy, T Stafford; C McGuckin (0-4), C Molloy, C Ó Tuama; S Doyle, J Doran; C Browne (0-1), Cl Dunbar (0-2), J Cullen (0-5, 0-4f); A Doyle, C McDonald (1-4), P Doyle (1-2, 0-1f) Subs: E Conroy for S. Doyle, temp. (26-27), S Óg Whelan for Doran (65), E Conroy for Travers (58),
Oylegate-Glenbrien: A Duggan; T Cosgrave, C Hourihane, S Reck; M Kelly, D Reck, P Casey; P Cullen, J Reck (0-2); F Hourihane, S Casey (1-7, 0-5f, 0-2 ‘65s), J Dunne; C Heffernan (0-1), P Doran (1-2, 0-2 l-bs), P Rowley Subs: J Reck for Hourihane (43), E Kelly for Heffernan (53), F Doran for Rowley (55),
Ref: D Crosby (Kilmore).
