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Anthony Irvine and Andy Brocklehurst's side had the edge thanks to their dominant backs, with Chris Holroyd and Graham Charlesworth pulling the strings in attack.

Ovenden's powerful pack, led by Gareth English, Matt Collins and Chris Geoghegan, worked hard throughout. However, the visitors' defence proved to be up to the task in a scrappy game which saw three red cards, three sin binnings and 28 penalties.

Veteran playmaker Steve Taylor gave Ovenden a ninth minute lead only for Charlesworth to step on the gas and level matters four minutes later from Chris Norman's pass. Charlesworth added the conversion and the game was finely balanced in the first quarter.

When Geoghan was sin binned on 22 minutes the Irish made the most of their numerical advantage as man of the match Chris Muxlow latched onto Holroyd's long pass for a try.

Irish suffered a blow when Gareth Matthews was sin binned and were grateful for a fine tackle by the outstanding Mick Holden and Will Midgley, who held Brett Steele up over the line.

That was a key moment as Holroyd intercepted a stray Taylor pass on the next play and raced 90 metres for an outstanding solo try which Charlesworth converted on 29 minutes.

Just two minutes later they scored a carbon copy try through Charlesworth, the pacy stand off intercepting Mark Bailey's pass for another long range effort. With Charlesworth adding another conversion the game was slipping away from the hosts at 22-4.

Lee Midgley, Dean McCallion and English all went close but good tackling from Richard Mudd, Luke Brown and Paul O'Byrne kept the Irish line intact before the interval.

The hosts made a great start in the second half as English crashed over from short range for a deserved try. Taylor was unable to add the extras.

A flare up between Midgley and Matthews saw both players take an early bath on 49 minutes.

Ovenden needed a try to get back in the game and Brett Durkin almost got it before Irish returned downfield through Irvine, Norman, Muxlow and Michael Reed for Charlesworth to romp over for another try on the hour which he converted.

Michael Mead and Liam Walsh went close to replying but the scrambling Irish defence was resolute, despite the sin binning of Holden.

Then on 70 minutes the hosts suffered another blow as Mead was red carded for tripping Irvine, who looked a certain scorer after a tremendous 40 metre break.

Steve Gracey had a try ruled out for Ovenden before Will Midgley raced inside from Holroyd's pass to score on 73 minutes, Charlesworth converted for a 34-8 lead.

The home side showed character to score two late tries, Scott Lindsey sending McCallion over with a neat offload before Steele raced over at the death.

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