The illusion that the Leinster Senior Cup is a competitive and cherished competition was undermined somewhat by Saturday's fare at Stradbrook. Blackrock College couldn't even muster crocodile tears in the aftermath of a largely inept performance.
It was the conclusion that their beleaguered supporters hardly deserved, a shambling, error-ridden performance by a patchwork side, darned with thirds and third A players. The All-Ireland Under-20 semi-finals and final over the weekend, coupled with a refixed semi-final against Old Belvedere in the Metropolitan Cup yesterday made a heavy demand on resources.
The pecking order of importance in Stradbrook was easily discernible and it could be ventured that Blackrock's attitude is shared by most clubs: tired limbs and minds do not lend themselves to a high entertainment quotient.
Hooker Shane Byrne, Tony Goldfinch and the excellent David Moore aside, Blackrock struggled to match the intensity and quality of their much more impressive opponents. Bective Rangers were also missing several established performers, but they managed to commit fewer errors while at the same time producing several fluent passages of play.
The Bective eight mastered the forward exchanges despite losing Stephen Montgomery after 15 minutes, with second row Mark Garton, Paul Hatton and Chris Moore particularly conspicuous. Veteran scrum-half Dessie Jackson, who grabbed his 113th senior try during the match, was an effective link between the backs and forwards, while Bryn Cunningham, at out-half, and full back James Hardy were others to excel.
Alan McGowan gave Blackrock an ideal start with a penalty on two minutes, but his success was to prove misleading in the overall context of the match as he missed four out of five opportunities with the placed ball.
Bective's retort was swift and skilful; Jackson took a quick tap, Montgomery displayed good hands to take and give the ball in the tackle and Ian Dwyer crashed over close to the posts. Amazingly, Cunningham missed the conversion, but would have been forgiven eight minutes later when he offered a lovely dummy to coast through the Blackrock defence for a try, after good work by Hatton. The out-half added the extra points.
Montgomery's departure through injury coincided with a brief period of Blackrock ascendancy, but McGowan missed two penalties before number eight Tony Goldfinch put left wing Aidan Guinan over in the corner from a five-metre scrum. McGowan failed with the conversion.
Bective appeared regenerated by the interval and increased their advantage five minutes after the restart when Jackson wriggled over from a penalty close to the line. Cunningham posted the conversion. The final 10 minutes produced three further tries, two to the home side.
Captain Hubie Kos forced his way over following a fine surge by Moore, but Bective stifled any momentum when full back Hardy exploited the shortside inside the Blackrock 22, from a clever reverse pass by Norris, to cross unopposed. Dwyer kicked a fine conversion.
McGowan's late try, which he converted himself, offered Blackrock an escape clause of which they nearly availed with Brian Carey's 40-metre break taken on by Shane Mooney, but the move petered out and with it the home side's cup aspirations.
Scoring sequence: 2 mins: McGowan penalty, 3-0; 6: Dwyer try, 3-5; 14: Cunningham try, Cunningham conversion, 3-12; 27: Guinan try, 8-12; 45: Jackson try, Cunningham conversion, 8-19; 70: Kos try, 13-19; 76: Hardy try, Dwyer conversion, 13-26; McGowan try, McGowan conversion, 20-26.
Blackrock College: S Hunt; P Dunne, B Carey, S Patterson, A Guinan; A McGowan, N Assaf; D Kavanagh, S Byrne, R Cranfield; H Kos (capt), J Ryan; D Moore, T Goldfinch, D Begley. Replacements: S Mooney for Hunt (half-time); C Shanley for Kavanagh (70 mins).
Bective Rangers: J Hardy; M Guckian, I Dwyer, T Quinlan, R O'Donnell; B Cunningham, D Jackson; P Walsh, J Carvill (capt), P Kelly; K Walsh, M Garton; C Moore, P Hatton, S Montgomery. Replacements: K O'Brien for Montgomery (15 mins); S Mallon for Guckian (halftime); J Sweeney for Walsh (51 mins); B Whelan for Carvill (53 mins); N Power for O'Donnell (70 mins).
Referee: T Redmond (Leinster).
