Craig Gilroy marked his 100th Ulster appearance with two tries as the Irish side eventually wore down a stubborn Benetton Treviso side to win 43-3 in the GUINNESS PRO12 on Friday night.

The 23-year-old, who became the youngest player to bring up the century of appearances for the club, crossed in the second-half to earn Ulster their try bonus point before rounding off the night with an intercepted second.

But the final scoreline was somewhat misleading after Ulster struggled to find their stride in the first-half with only a Mike Allen try and six points from the boot of Ruan Pienaar to their name.

It was a different story after the break though as a combination of two Treviso yellow cards and the introduction of replacement Stuart McCloskey sparked Ulster into life with the centre’s try adding to a penalty try before Gilroy and Andrew Warwick added further scores.

Ulster took only six minutes to break the deadlock when the two sides took on each other at the Stadio Monigo last month.

But it was a different story at the Kingspan Stadium with the Irish team coming up against a Benetton Treviso side determined to put in the early running.

The first points finally arrived on 18 minutes however courtesy of Pienaar’s penalty.

Up until that point, it had been a largely uneventful game with Treviso enjoying more possession but Ulster stepped it up afterwards for the first try of the match.

Darren Cave was the instigator with a direct break through the middle of the Treviso defence before feeding in Allen to sidestep his way through and dot down on 25 minutes, Pienaar with the extras for 10-0.

Just minutes afterwards, the Ulster fans were on their feet in expectation as Gilroy chased down his own kick but the ball bounced favourably for Dean Budd and the Italian defence cleared.

After that burst of dominance, the game flattened out again with both teams going through a period of opting for the boot with a bit of aerial ping pong.

Ulster began to find the width in their game before the break but it was not enough to add to their score, with Pienaar striking the post with a penalty before the half-time whistle.

Gilroy then got a sniff of the try line after the break but he couldn’t get his pass to find Ulster hands.

And they came closer still on 52 minutes when Lewis Stephenson crossed for what he believed was his first Ulster try after a clever kick on by Luke Marshall but the TMO ruled otherwise due to the lock being offside, with Treviso’s Antonio Pavanello also sinbinned for a deliberate knock-on in the build-up.

The break in play saw Ulster ring the changes with Robbie Diak and McCloskey coming on for Nick Williams and Marshall.

And McCloskey was involved almost immediately, fending off three tackles before being held up five metres from the line.

But Treviso’s Tomas Vallejos-Cinalli was deemed to have put his hands in the ruck illegally, earning himself a second yellow for the Italians.

With two second-rows in the bin, it was almost inevitable that Treviso would not be able to stop Ulster finally getting a second try of the night on the hour mark.

And it came via a penalty try after a carefully controlled drive by Roger Wilson was illegally collapsed on the line, leaving Pienaar to add the extras for 17-0.

Joe Carlisle did slot a penalty for Treviso on 66 minutes but from then on the spaces started to appear for Ulster and McCloskey got a deserved try on 68 minutes after good hands by the backs.

And just four minutes later, Gilroy scored the try the occasion deserved as Mike McComish floated a ball over into the corner for the centurion to pounce on.

Pienaar was unable to convert but he made no mistakes just minutes later after Ulster burst through the Treviso defence and Warwick went over.

And Gilroy had the last word, intercepting a wayward Treviso pass to run in unopposed and round off victory in style.

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