Schools' Rugby Leinster Senior Cup quarter-final: Belvedere College - 26 St Patrick's - 15 No matter what any of the players on the St Patrick's Classical School, Navan team go on to achieve, they will be able to draw upon the memories of yesterday's Leinster Schools' Senior Cup quarter-final at Donnybrook.
At the final whistle it was Belvedere College who were relieved.
St Patrick's were without two of their backs, Ciarán Kenny and Paddy Murray, both of whom this morning play for the school's senior Gaelic football team in the Leinster Colleges' semi-final against Rochfortbridge.
St Patrick's, trailing 26-7 after 54 minutes, could have capitulated. Instead they finished with a flourish. Centre Alan McCormack kicked a long-range penalty and with 11 minutes remaining he wriggled past two defenders after outhalf Brian Forristal had swept to the shortside from a scrum inside the Belvedere 22.
At 26-15, Belvedere were corralled in their own 22 for the remainder of the game. Twice St Patrick's crept to within millimetres of the try line only to be denied by aggressive defending.
It was a great St Patrick's team effort and none exemplified this more than captain and number eight Sean Gallagher, outstanding openside Shane Dawson, hooker Conor Brady and behind the scrum Forristal and McCormack.
Belvedere's performance didn't reflect the quality of the team. They were hugely unsubtle, seeking to break down the door rather than opening it.
Only once did they produce quality rugby when right wing Kevin Barden claimed his side's third try. Lineout ball off the top, a dummy in midfield to hold the defenders and the strong running of full back Conor Hayes was finished in the corner by Barden.
Their other tries came from Gerard Brennan, Peter Woods and Marcus McAllister with Hayes successful with three conversions from four attempts. In that period St Patrick's only response was a fine individual effort from Gallagher, that McCormack improved upon.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4 mins: Brennan try, 5-0; 22: Wood try, Hayes conv, 12-0. Half-time: 12-0. 43: Gallagher try, McCormack conversion, 12-7; 49: Barden try, Hayes conv, 19-7; 54: McAllister try, Hayes conv, 26-7; 56: McCormack penalty, 26-10; 59: McCormack try, 26-15.
BELVEDERE COLLEGE: C Hayes; K Barden, M McAllister, K Gormley, P Woods; I Keatley, B O'Neill (capt); H Mahon, D Gilchrist, E Weigel; H McGreevy, H Lacey; G Brennan, B Kennedy, D Keane. Replacement: R Carson for Gilchrist (56 mins).
ST PATRICK'S CLASSICAL SCHOOL: D Curran; K Brennan, A McCormack, J Brady, R Gorman; B Forristal, S Bedford; D O'Flynn, C Brady, C Curtis; C Dunphy, D McAteer; T Clarke, S Gallagher (capt), S Dawson. Replacements: N Finley for McAteer (53 mins).
Referee: E O'Dowd (Leinster).
