Dungannon got off to an ideal start going 7-0 up after 3 minutes at a sunny but breezy Estuary Road on Saturday. This was a game with only pride at stake for Malahide as they had already been consigned to the lower division and while Dungannon were sure of their playoff place, the boys were keen to maintain the momentum built up during the season.
Dungannon got the first score with a well worked forward drive with the pack shunting Lewis McCrabbe over the line for the touchdown and Ben McCaughey added the conversion. After that it was Malahide who used the diagonal wind to good advantage with David O'Halloran getting their opening 7 points. The same player added a further easy 3 when the visitors were penalised for not releasing.
Winger Dan Hayes got their second try on his 100th AIL game and they continued to press but at 15-7 that was as good as it got for Malahide.
Dungannon worked their way back into the game and Toby Gribben showed his strength as he crossed the line with several defenders hanging on and Ben converted, making it 15-14 at the break.
In the second half Dungannon produced some fine attacking rugby in the benign conditions with the half back pairing using the wind to good effect. A driving lineout maul from 20 metres out saw Angus Cunningham get the third try with Ben adding the extras and the same player added a further penalty consolidating a 9 point lead at 15-24.
Frequent Malahide infringements gave the visitors good field position through the accurate boot of Peter Nelson. With the Dungannon forwards dominating the set pieces and providing good quality ball the backline created several scoring opportunities, but these were not always turned into points.
Toby, who was unlucky not to get his hat trick, showed a superb burst of pace to evade several would be tacklers for his second try and a short time after this James Gamble barged over after earlier selling an outrageous dummy. Both were converted by Ben McCaughey giving the visitors a healthy 38-15 lead.
James Girvan completed the visitors scoring in the final minutes, when he ghosted through midfield untouched giving Ben an easy conversion leaving the final score 15-45.

While Dungannon were still missing a significant number of their starting 15 from the Skerries game, it was reassuring that all the replacements played very creditably with Charlie Conroy and Alfie Lewis having some fine runs. Also good to see Billy Allen back from duty with Scotland Under 20s and Alex Johnston return from injury in the final quarter.
Dungannon had the benefit of good travelling support not just from the regulars but from the thirds and also an old face from the past in former Dungannon player Arthur Morgan.
Now, we look forward to the playoffs with near neighbours Clogher Valley in two weeks’ time.

Dungannon: M. Stockdale, A. Cunningham, J. Gamble, L. McCrabbe, C. Johns, S. Todd, M. Maguire, A. Milligan, T. Gribben, P. Nelson, A. Lewis, B. McCaughey, J. Girvan, A. Nelson, C. Conroy, R. Abernethy, J. Clarke, B. Connelly, B. Allen, A. Johnston