Cistercian College 5 St Andrew's 0A well-crafted try from fullback Jonathan Cody midway through the first half was enough for Cistercian College, Roscrea, to surprise the much touted St Andrew's in an often scrappy tie at Forenaughts.
St Andrew's will wonder how they failed to find even one score having had so much of the possession.
Crucially, however, they rarely managed to find a foothold deep in opposition territory in the second half and on the occasions that they did, Roscrea were able to come up with the big plays to clear their lines.
Roscrea were clearly fired up from the start and had their best period of the game up to what proved the winning score.
Following a bout of concerted pressure, they spread the ball wide with some impressively slick passing and Cody arrived on Peter Rouse's shoulder to go over in the corner.
St Andrew's responded vigorously and were held up over the CCR line on two occasions as their pack attempted to make their physical superiority reap dividends.
Impressive referee Ciarán McGowan was perfectly placed on each occasion to make his calls but it seemed only a matter of time before Andrew's would breach Roscrea's defensive lines.
That was to reckon without Roscrea's doggedness, however, and they remained resolute to the end.
Cody and substitute Tom Nolan were among those to came up with crucial turnovers at vital times that enabled them to ease the pressure.
To their credit, St Andrew's kept ploughing forward, with captain Eoin Cremen leading by example, but they seemed to run out of ideas as the game went on and while continuing to dominate possession in the second half, rarely managed to pin Roscrea back in their own half.
They did almost break the deadlock early in the second half when Aaron Lennox's astute kick to the corner almost unlocked the Roscrea defence but the ball had just rolled over the dead-ball line when Marc Smyth touched it down.
Apart from that, they never really looked like breaking Roscrea down and indeed good breaks from All-Ireland minor hurling medallist Séamus Hennessy and Tiernan O'Halloran ensured the boys in black and white finished proceedings in control deep in Andrew's territory.
Right before the end, substitute winger Conor Pardy almost got in for a try that would have put a flattering gloss on the scoreline but was snagged by Smyth.
Time was on the Cistercian College side, however, and shortly afterwards, their place in the next round against Belvedere had been confirmed.
CISTERCIAN COLLEGE ROSCREA: J Cody; F Ryan, D Clarke, T O'Halloran, P Rouse; D Joyce, K Quinlan; I Wheatley, P Duggan, L Hyland; R Shanahan, J McGee; J Hayes, P Finn, S Hennessy. Replacements: L Smyth for Duggan; T Nolan for McGee; C Pardy for Rouse.
ST ANDREW'S: A Deverell; M Smyth, C Brook-Tyrrell, G Hayes, F Lennox; A Brown, A Rogers; T Montgomery, C Cremen, N Clarke; R Switzer, L Clarke; D Greene, O Randall, E Cremen. Replacement: H Jones for Rogers
Referee: C McGowan (ARLB)
