IRFU had initially fixed it for St Marys for what I am told were very strong reasons and then following complaints from Young Munster the IRFU rugby committee changed it to Musgrave Park citing fairness and neutrality. The preference for neutrality seems to be relatively new as there used to be an option of tossing a coin for home advantage but that wasn't considered this time.
Should be a great game if the AIL fixture earlier in the season is anything to go by.
Bateman Cup final scheduled to be played February 12th in Musgrave Park at 1.45pm
Strange venue for a game between Young Munster and Lansdowne
Division 1A
Clontarf 26 UCC 13
Cork Constitution 26 Ballynahinch 15
Lansdowne 46 Garryowen 5
Terenure College 60 UCD 8
Young Munster 8 Dublin University 27
Division 1B
Highfield 19 Banbridge 8
Malone v Armagh Covid-19-affected match cancelled – 0-0. Both teams are awarded two points)
Naas 38 Shannon 29
Navan 28 St. Mary’s College 36
Old Wesley 22 Old Belvedere 7
Division 2A
Cashel 22 Old Crescent 19
Barnhall 50 Dolphin 24
Nenagh Ormond 41 Ballymena 7
Rainey Old Boys 3 Buccaneers 60
UL Bohemians 5 Queen’s University 58
Division 2B
Ballina 19 Dungannon 28
Belfast Harlequins 32 Sligo 22
Blackrock College 31 Wanderers 26
Galway Corinthians 17 Malahide 37
Greystones 59 Galwegians 7
Division 2C
City of Derry 19 Midleton 20
Enniscorthy 29 Bangor 25
Omagh Academicals 6 Clonmel 8
Sunday’s Well 14 Skerries 9
Tullamore 28 Bruff 7
Some turn around for nenagh. Have struggled at times this season and lost to Ballymena before Christmas 46-12 and beat them this afternoon 41-7.
Some gaps emerging in 1A. 12 points now between UCD and bottom 2 hinch, UCC. and UCD are 9 off Garryowen who are 7 off Trinity. Tarf 5 clear of Lansdowne. Con are 4th and their ability to get losing bonus point from every game theyve lost could be key to them making playoffs at seasons end
Wesley now 6 clear at top of 1B. Highfield then 4 clear of Marys next. At bottom Banbridge and Navan both on 14 and 5 adrift of Malone. Could be very interesting how that plays out
Queens look like they could run away with 2A and put 58 on Bohs in Limerick today and are 13 clear of Cashel who took advantage, very late on, of Ballymenas loss. Nenagh are thanks to their win and Bohs big defeat just 3 off the Limerick side and avoiding the relegation playoff.
Greystones are 13 clear of the rest in 2B and scored 59 against Wegians today. very tight behind them with 6 points between the next 5. Corinthians are next on 39 just ahead of Rock on points difference with Wanderers and Belfast Quins 3 behind them and Sligo a further 3 points behind. Wegians 12 points off Ballina who are 9th after Malahides win over Corinthians lifted them out of the 9th/10th playoff.
Some big gaps between top sides in 2C with the bottom very close. Enniscorthy 9 clear of Skerries who are 9 ahead of Tullamore and Bangor and then another 9 points between them and Omagh. While Sundays Well and Clonmel are currently in the drop zone on 13 and Derry are on 15 and Midleton 16.
Mighty win v UCD for us. But they were missing so many.
But we are in a nice little groove. Team playing so well
1A
Lots of players playing URC this weekend that played AIL last weekend so a fair bit of change across most teams I suspect
CLONTARF v UCC - Tarf to win easily
CORK CON v BALLYNAHINCH - Con with a BP
LANSDOWNE v GARRYOWEN - We will need a big improvement from last week to have a chance here
TERENURE COLLEGE v UCD - Terenure will win well
YOUNG MUNSTER v DUBLIN UNIVERSITY - I think Trinity might get the away win
1B
HIGHFIELD v BANBRIDGE - Highfield have slipped of late but will get back to winning ways
MALONE v CITY OF ARMAGH - Tight game going to go with Armagh
NAAS v SHANNON - 2 form teams - I think Naas will edge it
NAVAN v ST MARY'S COLLEGE - Marys to win well
OLD WESLEY v OLD BELVEDERE - Old Wesley on a roll and should have too much for Belvo
My own experience is that they are well attended but I understand the logistical problems for clubs.
2A has a fair few think 8 across season which is around same as 1B if not more than it. Division 2 far more geographically spread out so harder for clubs to have friday night games
Easy to have a lot of Friday games in 1A when theres 5 clubs in 1 city, 2 in 2 other cities.
Pity there aren’t Friday night games in 2A, 2B etc
https://www.irishrugby.ie/2022/01/22/energia-mens-all-ireland-league-results-round-up-12/
Corinthians 43 Wegians 15
great having games streamed and with commentary. hope clubs can keep this up
Great to see loads of players being released by the provinces to play AIL
Dan Goggin and Pa Campbell starting for Young Munster with Eoin O'Connor on the bench. I would imagine Garryowen will have the likes of Mark Donnelly, Cian Hurley, Jack Daly, Tony Butler available to them again this weekend and potentially Neil Cronin and Paddy Kelly who have all played for them this season. Should be a cracker.
Any thoughts on division 2 Stainalert? You only ever put up division 1 fixtures
2A
Ballymena v Bohs - Ballymena will want to keep pressure on queens in case they slip up and should get good win here
Dolphin v Cashel - Cashel to edge it
Barnhall v Buccaneers - Buccaneers
Crescent v Nenagh - Nenagh had good win last week and may get another here which would bring them in striking distance of Crescent, Bohs to avoid the playoff with Rainey
Queens v Rainey - Should be comfortable win for students who are looking more and more like theyll run away with division
2B
Corinthians v Galwegians - Corinthians in much better form tho form can go out window in derbies like this cant see wegians getting anything tonight
Dungannon v Blackrock - Blackrock have more to play for and are in with good chance of playoff spot so may edge this
Malahide v Ballina - Ballina to put gap between themselves and Malahide at bottom to 11 points with win here
Sligo v Greystones - Should be very good game and Greystones to extend their lead at top
Wanderers v Belfast Harlequins - Wanderers
2C
Bangor v Sundays Well - home win
Bruff v Enniscorthy - league leaders to get away win
City of Derry v Skerries - skerries
Clonmel v Tullamore - tullamore
Midleton v Omagh - midleton
Leagues are really hotting up with some great matches this weekend
BALLYNAHINCH v TERENURE COLLEGE - Terenure are flying at the moment, never easy at Hinch but Terenure will have enough
CORK CONSTITUTION v UCC - Con badly need a win to get things going, think they will be too strong for the students
DUBLIN UNIVERSITY v CLONTARF - Trinity apparently very strong this week - should be a cracker of a game. Going to go with Trinity
GARRYOWEN v YOUNG MUNSTER - Great derby game which I think will go down to the wire with Munsters prevailing
UCD v LANSDOWNE - Hearing UCD are strong this weekend - They have Scott Penny, Tommy O'Brien, Paddy Patterson apparently
BANBRIDGE v OLD WESLEY - Banbridge showing some life recently but Wesley will have too much and will hold onto their No 1 spot
CITY OF ARMAGH v HIGHFIELD - Should be a great battle. Highfield to edge it
NAVAN RFC v OLD BELVEDERE - Belvo need to raise their game and I think will have too much for Navan
SHANNON v MALONE - Shannon just off the back of 2 great results against Highfield should push on with a win
ST MARY'S COLLEGE v NAAS - Very tight game 50/50 really, will go with Naas but only just
https://www.irishrugby.ie/2022/01/15/energia-mens-all-ireland-league-results-round-up-11/
Mick Kearney starting for Tarf against Garryowen today.
Tarf’s team as a whole is the strongest I think I’ve seen it this year.
Bohs 15 Crescent 34
Naas 29 Navan 7
Hopefully all games can get played this weekend
2 games tomorrow night. bohs v crescent in 2A and Naas Navan in 1B.
Clontarf v Garryowen
Lansdowne v Ballynahinch
Terenure v Cork Con
UCC v Trinity
Young Munster v UCD
Highfield v Shannon
Malone v St Marys
Old Belvedere v Banbridge
Old Wesley v Armagh
Buccaneers v Queens
Cashel v Barnhall
Nenagh v Dolphin
Rainey v Ballymena
Galwegians v Sligo
Ballina v Corinthians
Belfast Harlequins v Dungannon
Blackrock v Malahide
Greystones v Wanderers
Enniscorthy v Clonmel
Omagh v City of Derry
Skerries v Bangor
Sundays Well v Bruff
Tullamore v Midleton
For anybody interested the Garryowen V Young Munsters match that was scheduled for 8pm on Friday the 21st it has now been moved to Saturday the 22nd at 2:30pm
I presume this is due to the recent 8pm lockdown of hospitality
Ballina concede to Young Munster due to covid
Cant see Ballina or Armagh causing a shock but Armagh being at home gives them a better shot at doing that than Ballina.
Bateman Cup Semis this weekend: Armagh V Lansdowne and Young Munsters V Ballina
£5.00 at Ballymena game I went to.
Strange one. When league began 30 years ago it was Ballymena who were expected to dominate along with Wanderers, etc but they just didnt get what the Munster clubs had or would do.
Tenner at nearly all games/grounds i go to - been to AIL games in Garryowen, Tarf, Nenagh, Buccaneers, Clontarf, Crescent and Corinthians this season so far. trinity generally dont charge b/c cant really but do have a donations bucket go round
Dont think many/if any charge more than that
Quick question for people. How much are you being charged for entry to these games. It's been a tenner for Garryowen and half that for students and OAPs since the start of the season and the same at Young Munster 2 weeks ago, just wondering is it the same or more or less at other clubs? Fantastic value I should add
With the exception of 2A (Queen’s and Ballymena) and Quinn’s in 2B why do the Ulster clubs not fare better in the AIL?
Absolutely drenched after today,...
Garryowen well beaten by Tarf who were well worth the win. very impressive by them. very dominant performance
Bohs 28 Crescent 17. Fine crowd on cold night for a game. Not greatest of games but deserved win for visitors.
Malahide Blackrock was 34-34 draw and Naas beat Navan 22-17
Promotion relegation confirmed by irfu
https://www.irishrugby.ie/2021/12/10/changes-to-energia-all-ireland-league-promotion-relegation-for-2021-22/
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