Leinster Schools' Senior Cup quarter-final/ Blackrock 10 Clongowes 10: The Clongowes Wood College past pupil turned to his friend walking out the Bective gate, "Feels like a win, doesn't it?"
That sums it up really. Blackrock College, the underdogs for a change, were poised to produce the first upset of the 2008 Leinster Schools' Cup. They had it but then it slipped away.
With five minutes remaining outhalf Lorcan O'Daly missed a penalty from 30 metres that would have put them six points clear but it didn't matter as Clongowes, dominant for long periods, were desperately defending their line entering injury time. Referee Kevin Beggs had signalled for a Blackrock advantage but they went for the jugular as a try would put them out of reach.
Scrumhalf Alan MacGinty was, however, penalised for a dummy pass at a ruck, with a blatant Clongowes knock-on moments earlier going unnoticed as the Kildare school rode their luck.
A half break by Clongowes's Ciarán Wade allowed flanker Robert Timlin to make the sufficient yardage to bring them into penalty range. Suddenly, and in keeping with the madcap tone of the contest, Rock were making last-gasp tackles to save their campaign.
The last play of the game arrived. Clongowes had possession just inside the opposing 10-metre line. Blackrock substitute Stephen Lambe entered the ruck from the side but Beggs missed it. Clongowes waited. Another replacement, David Hillery, then ploughed into the ruck just as the referee got himself a better view. Wade held his nerve with a low-trajectory penalty to force a replay next Friday, probably at Donnybrook.
Judging by events over the 70 minutes, Clongowes look best placed to prevail. Jack O'Connell's team continually utilised their hugely damaging maul, and they have no problem moving it wide, where fullback Lorcan Smyth is a dangerous strike runner.
Blackrock had more opportunities to win yesterday. O'Daly recovered from an ankle injury to conduct matters at outhalf, where he showed the ability to break, kick and move the line. His was a polished performance.
The first try-scoring opportunity fell their way after 17 minutes when O'Daly cut open the defence before freeing fullback Andrew Conway, whose pass to Alan Philpott was knocked on with the line in sight.
It was by no means the only error in a calamitous opening half that, such was the entertainment value, seemed to fly by.
An O'Daly penalty put Blackrock 3-0 ahead in first-half injury time. Clongowes immediately disappeared into the Old Wesley clubhouse, Blackrock lingering on the damp, chilly pitch before following them indoors.
The Clongowes maul yielded a try two minutes into the second half when O'Connell spun away from two despairing tacklers after a 30-yard rumble. Wade was true with the conversion.
The Clongowes eight dominated for periods before Michael Cawley's pack, where openside Jordi Murphy excelled, gained parity.
Still, O'Daly played a game of Russian roulette when kicking for territory as Smyth was liable to cause damage on the counterattack.
The Clongowes defence seemed to have them sussed as they constantly drifted onto the main threats, Brendan Macken and Conway. But with nine minutes remaining, O'Daly engineered what seemed the game's definitive score with another break and offload to put Macken away. The centre supplied the killer pass for the Leinster under-19 winger Gavin Greene to round the cover. The outhalf kicked the extras to make it 10-7.
Then came the typically heroic endgame from Clongowes that has tipped the psychological scales in their favour. At least Blackrock should have their Irish schools prop Denis Buckley, a flu victim, back.
They'll need him, along with a repeat performance from the rest as a minimum requirement.
Scoring sequence: 35 mins: L O'Daly pen, 3-0 (half-time 3-0); 37: J O'Connell try, C Wade con, 3-7; 61: G Greene try, L O'Daly con, 10-7; 73: C Wade pen, 10-10.
BLACKROCK: A Conway; G Greene, B Macken, C Rhatigan, A Philpott; L O'Daly, A MacGinty; A Lyons, P Kilcoyne, S Schuster; K O'Riordan, M Cawley (capt); B Kelly, J Murphy, R Hartnett. Replacements: S Lambe for P Kilcoyne (46 mins), T Parsons for K O'Riordan (51 mins), D Hillery for A Lyons (52 mins).
CLONGOWES: L Smyth; G Mullen, D Cullen, S Kennedy, N McNamara; C Wade, M McLoughlin; J O'Connell, T O'Mahony, M Collis; W Courtney, N Delehanty; R Timlin, W Larkin, J Lochrin. Replacements: G Hoban for N Delehanty (45 mins), A Hoban for W Larkin (66 mins).
Referee: K Beggs(ARLB).
