Malone were stunned by a dominant Quins side who ran in five tries to make this a convincing victory.
By Conor Keown
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The impressive Sean O’Connell scored the only try in the first half, but Rory Scholes, Niall Annett, Michael Allen and Michael Kirkwood grabbed a try each in the second period.
It was Malone that took the lead after just two minutes with a penalty from young Lorcan McGillan.
Stuart Olding levelled the scores on eight minutes with a penalty after Malone were punished for holding on in the tackle. Olding added two further penalties as Malone failed to get a grip on their discipline. Malone wing Chris Leathem was made an example of when Mr Patton showed him a yellow card.
Five minutes before half time Quins made their numerical advantage count, D’Arcy made a defence splitting run through the centre he offloaded to Sean O’Connell and the Ravens No. 8 had the power to drive over on the left hand side, trailing two Malone players with him. Olding couldn’t convert a difficult touchline kick leaving the home side with a 14-3 half time lead.
Olding was off target with a penalty from a tight angle on the hour mark but from the drop out Quins got their second try. The ever present O’Connell fielded the kick and Scholes went on a jinking run, the ball was spread to Annett but he was stopped short, Quins kept their patience worked the ball through the phases creating an overlap on the right and O’Connell put Scholes over in the corner.
Quins had Ken McComb sin binned and Malone kicked the resultant penalty to touch in the home 22. Remarkably it was the home side that scored as Quins Skipper Gareth Rourke stole the line out and burst out of defence, Mark Kettyle drove it deep into the 22 after a couple of phases with quick ball, Niall Annett powered over for Quins. Olding was unable to convert for the extra points.
Quins sealed their bonus point three minutes from the end as Ulster winger Michael Allen picked off a pass from John Creighton and sprinted under the posts with Olding converting.
Stuart Olding put the seal on an empathic win with a fifth unconverted try with the final play of the game.
There were a number of nominees for star man, but the choice goes to a player who continues to improve each week and for his strength and determination in scoring the first try.
Star man: Sean O’Connell
Belfast Harlequins: McGrath, Annett, Fraser, Rourke, Ferguson, Babe, O’Connell, Kirkwood, Olding, Allen, Best, Kettyle, Scholes, D’Arcy. Replacements: Greenaway, Simpson, McComb, Creighton, Stewart.
Malone: Halliday, Taylor, Caulfield, O’Connor, McAlister, Joyce, Alcorn, Moore, Creighton, Pentland, McGillan, Burgess, Barker, Leathem, Acheson. Replacements: Bailie, Barlow, Tipping, Malcolm, Kelly.
(Thanks to Ciaran Donaghy for providing the salient highlights of the match for this report).
