All-Ireland League Division 1A final: St Mary\u2019s College 46 Clontarf 31<\/p>\n
Fourteen years in the making, St Mary\u2019s College are Energia All-Ireland League Division 1A champions again after a dominant second-half display at the Aviva Stadium ended Clontarf\u2019s reign.<\/p>\n
Shannon were the last team to go back-to-back and, 21 years later, \u2018Tarf became the latest to fall short. For St Mary\u2019s, who had already beaten Clontarf twice this season and edged them at the top of the league standings, the triumph felt fully earned in only their second season back in the top flight.<\/p>\n
The celebrations began at the final whistle among a vocal 6,894 crowd, with players and supporters savouring a landmark success. The party was set to move to Templeville Road for a memorable night.<\/p>\n
\u201cLosing a semi-final last year was massively disappointing, massively deflating,\u201d said St Mary\u2019s head coach Mark McHugh, who won the AIL as a player with the club 26 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were determined to go better [this year]. That doesn\u2019t always happen, but it was very clear that we had the makings of something very special and we could do something very special and here we are.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just delighted that our guys managed to show the best version of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
St Mary\u2019s dominated the aerial battle through man-of-the-match Myles Carey, though the first half was a high-tempo shoot-out that was played at a rattling pace.<\/p>\n
![\"Conor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NSO6RT2VO73NSQHORVMFDB2VAQ.jpg\")
Conor Dean of St Mary’s College (left) celebrates with teammates Mick O’Gara, Robert Gilsenan and Myles Carey after scoring his side’s fifth try in Sunday’s All-Ireland League Division 1A final against Clontarf at the Aviva Stadium. Photograph: Daire Brennan\/Sportsfile <\/p>\n
Clontarf struck first in the fourth minute when Jordan Coghlan finished after his captain Dylan Donnellan was stopped short, with Conor Kelly converting. St Mary\u2019s replied through a Mick O\u2019Gara penalty before Carey touched down under the posts for a 10-7 lead.<\/p>\n
Kelly missed a penalty but Clontarf regained the lead in the 20th minute when Aaron Coleman broke from a maul to score. However, their advantage was shortlived as Aaron O\u2019Sullivan sliced through defenders to set up Leandro Ramirez for a try, though O\u2019Gara missed the conversion.<\/p>\n
St Mary\u2019s had to defend their line before the break but then seized control after the interval. Ramirez was denied close to the line before Michael McCormack powered over, with O\u2019Gara converting for a 10-point cushion. Five minutes later, Conor Dean\u2019s superb tip-pass opened space for Ruair\u00ed Shields to race in and extend the lead.<\/p>\n
Clontarf were handed a lifeline when former Leinster starlet Hugh Cooney intercepted Robert Gilsenan\u2019s pass inside his own 22 and ran clear to score, with Kelly cutting the gap to 10 points.<\/p>\n
But St Mary\u2019s responded decisively. Josh Gimblett crossed for a converted try, Kelly was harshly sinbinned after colliding with Carey and O\u2019Gara added a penalty to leave Clontarf chasing the game.<\/p>\n
They came back firing. Coleman claimed a second maul try in the 66th minute, though Michael Moloney missed the conversion, but any lingering doubt was removed when Dean capped off a milestone day for St Mary\u2019s with their final try five minutes from the finish as the outhalf pounced to intercept a Conor Gibney pass.<\/p>\n
There was still time for Coghlan to score his second try \u2013 Clontarf\u2019s fifth of the game \u2013 but the outcome was already settled.<\/p>\n
![\"Greg](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/R5TR6VOPXZZ7DZQS423QEORSGY.jpg\")
Greg Jones of St Mary’s College is tackled by Jordan Coghlan (left) and Daniel Hawkshaw during Sunday’s All-Ireland League Division 1A final at the Aviva Stadium. Photograph: Daire Brennan\/Sportsfile <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time in the making,\u201d said Dean. \u201cI joined the club in 2016, so there\u2019s a lot of lows and then the last 2\u00bd years or three seasons have been unbelievable.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo cap it off with a win in the AIL, I didn\u2019t know if it was going to be possible and, as last season and this season developed, it was becoming a reality. So yeah, it\u2019s definitely up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
In contrast, there was a thrilling end to the women\u2019s decider earlier in the afternoon, with UL Bohs clinching their third title in a row and 16th overall thanks to Ireland international Caitr\u00edona Finn\u2019s 82nd-minute try, making it the second successive year that the Red Robins had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a score in overtime.<\/p>\n
Opponents Blackrock were on the front foot for large parts of the contest but didn\u2019t nail second-half opportunities to put distance between them and their Limerick rivals, who made them pay with their strong finish to claim a 32-29 victory to deny \u2018Rock a first crown since 2022.<\/p>\n
SCORING SEQUENCE \u2013 4 mins: <\/b>Coghlan try, Kelly con, 0-7; 8:<\/b> O\u2019Gara pen, 3-7; 13:<\/b> Carey try, O\u2019Gara con, 10-7; 20:<\/b> Coleman try, 10-12; 22: <\/b>Ramirez try, 15-12; (half-time: 15-12);<\/b> 44:<\/b> McCormack try, O\u2019Gara con, 22-12; 52:<\/b> Shields try, O\u2019Gara con, 29-12; 56:<\/b> Cooney try, Kelly con, 29-19; 58:<\/b> Gimblett try, O\u2019Gara con, 36-19; 63:<\/b> O\u2019Gara pen, 39-19; 66:<\/b> Coleman try, 39-24; 75:<\/b> Dean try, O\u2019Gara con, 46-24; 78: <\/b>Coghlan try, Kelly con 46-31.<\/p>\n
ST MARY\u2019S COLLEGE: <\/b>Ruair\u00ed Shields; Aaron O\u2019Sullivan, Myles Carey, Mick O\u2019Gara, Leandro Ramirez; Conor Dean (capt), Robert Gilsenan; Thomas O\u2019Reilly, Jack Nelson, Michael McCormack; Greg Jones, Daniel Leane; Josh Gimblett, Ronan Watters, Dan Goggin. <\/p>\n
Replacements:<\/b> Ois\u00edn Michel for O\u2019Reilly, Andrew Sparrow for McCormack, Finn Burke for Goggin (all 52 mins); Richie Bergin for Nelson (57); Mark Fogarty for Ramirez (59); Conor Pierce for Leane (68); Goggin for Leane (70); Burke for Watters (71), Steven Kilgallen for O\u2019Sullivan (75).<\/p>\n
CLONTARF:<\/b> Tadhg Bird; Dylan O\u2019Grady, Hugh Cooney, Daniel Hawkshaw, Alex O\u2019Grady; Conor Kelly, Sam Owens; Ivan Soroka, Dylan Donnellan (capt), Charlie Ward; Fionn Gilbert, Jim Peters; Paul Deeny, Aaron Coleman, Jordan Coghlan.<\/p>\n
Replacements: <\/b>Richard Whelan for Deeny, Daniel Magner for Alex O\u2019Grady (both 52 mins); Conor Bateman for Ward (60), Michael Moloney for Dylan O\u2019Grady; Conor Gibney for Hawkshaw (68); Declan Adamson for Coleman (70); D O\u2019Grady <\/b>for Owens (74); Alvin Amaniampong for Soroka (77).<\/p>\n
Yellow card:<\/b> Conor Kelly (63 mins).<\/p>\n
Referee:<\/b> Daniel Carson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All-Ireland League Division 1A final: St Mary\u2019s College 46 Clontarf 31 Fourteen years in the making, St Mary\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[64659,18,19,17,132],"class_list":["post-455486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ail","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116474221021866989","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}