Highfield welcome Eddie O'Sullivan's Buccaneers for an important AIL 1B top-four battle

THE top four teams in energia All-Ireland League Division 1B meet in Cork tomorrow with leaders UCC hosting St Mary’s College at the Mardyke and second-placed Highfield entertaining Buccaneers at Woodleigh, both at 2.30.

Cork Constitution travel to play newly promoted Shannon at Thomond Park in 1A and Dolphin also hit the road to Navan in 2A while both Midleton and Sundays Well are at home to Omagh Academicals and Ballina respectively.

College and Field are tied on nine points after their opening couple of games with the Students holding a better scoring difference, +25 to +8. St Mary’s are third on seven points and Buccs fourth on six.

It’s UCC’s second home game on the spin following on last week’s 15-14 success against City of Armagh, when the trend of players leaving school and moving straight into the AIL was again highlighted.

Wing Sean Condon and replacement hooker Danny Sheahan played for PBC in last season’s schools senior cup final and crossed for crucial second-half tries as College rallied from 3-14 at half-time.

It was a punishing game for College, whose recovery powers will be challenged against a St Mary’s side that overcame Malone 41-27 last week.

Highfield face Eddie O’Sullivan’s charges also travelling on the back of an impressive 35-7 victory over Old Wesley.

The Model Farm Road club have Conor Quaid and David Lee at the helm again this term though there’s the usual change in playing personnel, reflected in former Munster centre and more lately UCC and Pres coach, Cian Bohane.

He’s already after creating a big impression with four tries to his credit while another newcomer, scrum-half Richard Cassidy, was also a try scorer in the 24-22 win at Naas, when James Taylor again kicked three conversions following on from the Banbridge game.

Field are captained by flanker Dave O’Connell in a back-row which features the hardy annual Miah Cronin and former PBC player Amhlaoimh Porter last week.

It’s shaping up to be another very competitive campaign in the second tier, indicated by ’Field’s narrow victories and the same with College last time out.

Con’s 47-12 hammering by Terenure College came as a bolt from the blue, especially as last season’s beaten finalists scored all seven tries in the opening half.

Clearly, Con missed Niall Kenneally’s presence in midfield and his expected return should bolster a defence still stunned by the heavy leakage though opponents Shannon also have similar issues.

New hooker Billy Scannell, younger brother of Munster’s Niall and Rory, crossed for his first try while Paddy Patterson has taken over at scrum-half from Duncan Williams, who is now on the coaching ticket.

Con, in sixth on four points, obviously need to bounce back and Shannon could feel the brunt of a backlash, like Dolphin’s 35-8 home win over Blackrock College after shipping 69 points to Queens the week before.

Dolphin visit Navan with the pair on five points apiece though the Co Meath side lost to Ballymena by 20-14 and will have noted Cameron O’Shaughnessy scoring for the second week running as well as Tomas Quinlan’s reliability with the boot.

There was no doubt about the individual display of round 2, experienced Midleton out-half Stuart Lee’s hat-trick of tries and four conversions in his side’s 33-7 win over the Well at Towns Park.

That impressive 23-point haul is a backdrop to the meeting of Omagh Academicals in third and the east Cork in fourth with just a point separating them.

Midleton recovered the opening day loss to Clonmel with an important bonus-point victory over their city rivals, tries from Gearoid Collins and Rob Hickey embellishing Lee’s brilliance.

The Well, at the bottom of the table, meet a Ballina side just one point better off in a game which will give the winners a big boost.

Meanwhile, Cork are represented in Ireland under-age squads for training camps next month. Condon and Sean Edogbo (UCC) are joined by PBC’s Ben O’Connor and CBC’s Adam Wrona in the U19 Schools squad with Gene O’Leary Kareem and Tom Coughlan (PBC) and CBC’s Michael Foy and Eanna McCarthy in the U18s.

The U18 Clubs squad includes Dylan Hicks and Michael O’Donovan from Bantry Bay and Midleton’s Eoin Smyth.