Instonians crowned All-Ireland Division 2C champions, Armagh open up gap at top of Division 1B

​Paul Pritchard’s side made it 15 bonus point wins from 15 games and sealed promotion with three games remaining.

Inst will now set their sights on winning every game of the season with a bonus point which has never been achieved in All-Ireland League history.

Winger Zac Davidson went over for Inst on six minutes with Johnny Milliken converting but Ballina stunned the large crowd, profiting from a charge down to level the scores.

Inst were quickly back in control with hooker Neil Saulters going over from a maul and back-row Andy McGrath touching down following good work from the forwards. Milliken converted both scores.

Inst had the bonus point wrapped up by half-time as lock Robert Whitten went over in the corner with Milliken converting.

Saulters went over again before the break to give Inst a 35-7 lead at the interval.

The hooker completed his hat-trick after the restart while Inst added further tries from former Ulster prop Schalke van der Merwe and Matthew Kilpatrick.

Omagh are ninth after a 40-15 defeat at basement club Sunday’s Well.

Only four points separate the bottom two, while Bangor lost 15-13 at Bruff.

Chris Parker’s Armagh side have opened up a four-point gap at the top of Division 1B after a hard fought 23-20 win over St Mary’s at the Palace Grounds.

It was nip and tuck all the way. Ulster scrum half Mike McDonald landed a penalty to tie the scores after an early strike from St Mary’s Conor Hickey.

The visitor’s regained the lead with another penalty before lock John Glasgow’s converted try for Armagh.

Richie Fahy’s converted try gave St Mary’s a 13-10 half time lead.

McDonald tied the scores again with another penalty and converted prop Paul Mullen’s try.

McDonald added another penalty before a late Mary’s try.

In the fight to avoid automatic relegation Malone have closed the gap on Banbridge to a single point.