Belvedere College - 6, St Michael's College - 3: Not even the most ardent Belvedere College supporter would have considered his team's six-point interval advantage, having played with the benefit of a gale, a sufficient buffer to guarantee victory.
Any anxiety would have been compounded by the performance of the St Michael's College pack in mauling and driving the ball for significant yardage. St Michael's appeared to have done the more difficult half of their task in limiting their opponent's advantage and in doing so provided themselves with the platform to go on and win yesterday's Senior Cup quarter-final at Donnybrook.
That they didn't was down to a resilient defensive performance from Belvedere. The collective will and application manifest in the work-ethic of captain David O'Brien guaranteed St Michael's had to earn every yard.
Repeatedly St Michael's tried to establish a maul, or the straight pick and drive around the fringes, but only in the second half did they threaten the Belvedere line. They were guilty of playing too much rugby instead of kicking themselves into position.
In the opening 35 minutes St Michael's control was excellent, and twice it might have led to tries, but first Spencer Mitton and then James Byrne were held up at the line.
Belvedere were grateful for two penalties by full back Eamon Fitzgerald inside the first eight minutes. They should have grabbed the game's first try on 19 minutes when all Fitzgerald had to do was pass to the unmarked Kevin Barden in the St Michael's 22; he didn't and the opportunity went astray. A quickly-taken tap penalty under the St Michael's posts was another extravagance that might have been rued at half-time.
St Michael's captain Jonathan Rockett looked to have given hooker David Gavin a try-scoring pass but the move was called back when the number two was adjudged to have a foot in touch. They did not reduce the deficit until the 57 minutes with a penalty from Philip Howard, but the outhalf failed with a similar strike and a drop-goal attempt in the final quarter.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4 mins: Fitzgerald penalty, 3-0; 8 mins: Fitzgerald penalty, 6-0. Half-time: 6-0. 57 mins: Howard penalty, 6-3.
BELVEDERE COLLEGE: E Fitzgerald; M Hewitt, B McLoughlin, P Hobbs, K Barden; J Kennedy, B O'Neill; E O'Meara, P McGuire, M Hayes, R Leyden, B McArdle, C Murphy, D O'Kane, D O'Brien (capt).
ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: J Byrne; S Mitton, G Byron, G Doyle, J Gibbons; P Howard, J Pollard; B Harris, D Gavin, N Best, B Dunne, S Maguire, G Maguire, J Rockett (capt), B Maher. Replacements: J McCarthy for G Maguire 40 mins; M Furlong for S Maguire 57 mins.
Referee: A Rolland (Leinster).
