Leinster crush Ulster
September 1, 2001

A try either side of the interval from winger Gordon D'Arcy eased Leinster to a comfortable 31-9 victory over their Irish Celtic League rivals at Donnybrook on Friday night.

Ulster never recovered from conceding a poor start, Malcolm O'Kelly strolling over after pinching the ball at a seventh minute line-out, and the visitors' failure to secure their own set-piece possession became a recurring theme on an unhappy night.

At their virtually impregnable Dublin fortress, Leinster barely needed such gifts and though stoic Ulster defence kept their opponents at bay for the remainder of the opening quarter, once Nathan Spooner had exchanged penalties with David Humphreys, only one team was likely to emerge with victory.

D'Arcy grabbed his first when he finished off a flowing crossfield move.

Humphreys reduced the arrears with a penalty and Peter Wallace added another shortly before the break, Girvan Dempsey splitting the Ulster penalties with a neatly taken drop-goal for the home side.

Spooner added his second penalty after the interval but the loss of Mark Blair to the sin-bin created space in the Ulster defences, which D'Arcy exploited to claim his second try after Eric Miller had provided the final pass.

Niall Malone was denied a consolation score by D'Arcy's last-gasp tackle and Ulster, who lost Humphreys to injury 10 minutes from time, had their misery compounded when Denis Hickie collected Leinster's vital fourth try.

Teams

Leinster:: Leinster: Dempsey, D. Hickie, O'Driscoll, Horgan, Darcy, Spooner, O'Meara, Corrigan, S. Byrne, E. Byrne, O'Kelly, Cullen, Miller, Costello, Gleeson.


Not Used: Coyle, G. Hickie, Brennan, Toland, Willis, Dunne, Magro.


Tries: Brennan, Darcy, Miller, D. Hickie.


Cons: Spooner. Pens: Spooner 2. Drop Goals: Dempsey.


Ulster: : Ulster: Wallace, Coulter, J. Bell, Larkin, Howe, Humphreys, Doak, Fitzpatrick, Shields, Best, Johns, Davidson, Ward, Nelson, McMillen.


Not Used: Weir, Boyd, Blair, McWhirter, K. Campbell, Malone, Constable.


Pens: Humphreys 2, Wallace.


Ref: M Williams (WRFU).

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