Belfast Harlequins welcomed Wanderers FC to Deramore Park on Saturday afternoon for an All Ireland 2B league fixture with the teams sitting 4th and 3rd in the league ahead of kick off.

It was a cagey enough opening quarter at Deramore. Wanderers missed an early penalty before sending the next into the corner for an attacking lineout 12 minutes in. After a series of picks and go’s the visitors found the try line and with Conor Byrne converting they led 0 – 7.

Quins pulled back three points from a successful penalty but Wanderers extended their lead after a few missed tackles let Eoin O’Shaughnessy sprint clear to take the score to 3 – 12 on the half hour mark.

A kick by Quins’ James McKinney sent Chris Larmour clear for an unconverted try and with Paul Kerr landing a long penalty, moments later, the score rattled along to 11 – 12 in Wanderers favour as half time approached.

The visitors hadn’t finished though and Lucas Culliton scored for Wanderers on the stroke of half time to take an 11 – 19 lead into the break.

A dropped ball by Quins saw Wanderers Mickey Russel run 50 yards to score under the post, and pick up a try bonus point, and with Byrne adding the extras they had built up a formidable 11 – 26 lead by the end of the third quarter.

The home side kept in the hunt with a Paddy McAllister converted try at the start of the final quarter but it was a anxious 15 minutes before they crossed again through Malcom Corry which left them 23 – 26 in arears with less than five minutes remaining.

They only needed half that time and a quick line out throw saw Matt McKelvey cross for the winner with two minutes left. Kerr added the extras to give Quins a 30 – 26 win and move to second place in AIL 2B.

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Images by Alan Campbell