Schools Rugby Leinster Senior Cup/Clongowes 17 St Mary's College 7:Every time St Michael's College go out and produce a near perfect impression of Cup-winners-in-waiting, this Clongowes team come up with a decent retort. They may yet meet in the final.
Before that can become a reality, St Michael's must deal with whoever comes out of next Monday's quarter-final replay between Blackrock and Kilkenny College. Not many are betting against the Dublin side getting through that.
In the top half everything has already worked out as predicted, with Clongowes recovering from the initial scare of the eight-all draw with St Mary's last Tuesday.
They were shorn of their normal support for yesterday's quarter-final replay, despite being just five miles up the road from their Clane base. Boarding school pupils tend to scatter to the four corners of the earth come the midterm break.
So, just the die-hards remained to witness a clinical and - more importantly - controlled dismissal of courageous opponents.
The howling wind was afforded a full sweep of the unguarded Naas RFC grounds. At least the rain held off until late on. But these conditions were welcomed by a Clongowes pack who in Trevor Conneely possess a genuine leader. The number eight constantly dragged his troops over the gain line, with tighthead Jack O'Connell, until injury intervened, usually next up to carry the ball a few extra yards. Blindside flanker Bryan O'Keeffe was also prominent, but nobody avoided responsibility here.
Point being, this was gruesome stuff. Two forceful tries in the opening 21 minutes ensured victory. The first came from hooker Tommy Burns, on fourth phase, before O'Connell drove over from about two inches after eight gruelling collisions.
David Kearney belted over both conversions for a 14-0 lead. Considering the conditions were in St Mary's favour in the first half, any chance of a revival seemed unlikely.
St Mary's did conjure up some try-scoring opportunities, but handling errors, the order of the day, ultimately proved their undoing. Switching Ray Crotty to right wing and Darren Hudson to fullback provided a platform off first phase, especially when Crotty came onto outhalf Gareth Redmond's shoulder.
Niall Sheedy did cross for a try in first-half injury time after Hudson's clever line and delayed pass created the space. Redmond's touchline conversion provided hope, but the wind was about to shift behind Clongowes.
Mere moments into the second half, Kearney was presented with a straightforward penalty. The Leinster schools representative made it 17-7. This might as well have been 37-7, as squeezing two tries from this Clongowes defence in such elements would prove too much for any side in the competition.
Clongowes should have improved on their lead but they attempted to batter St Mary's into submission.
Although they realised defeat was inevitable, Shane Timmons' team refused to buckle, which was a remarkable feat considering they spent the last 15 minutes camped just yards from their line.
Whenever they turned over possession, the clearance kick refused to leave the 22, while any attempted breaks from deep resulted in handling errors. Also, Clongowes targeted and isolated dangerous centre Conor McGlade.
Conneely kept the tactics simple. And incessant. These boys remain genuine contenders.
SCORING SEQUENCE - 5 mins: T Burns try, 5-0; D Kearney conv, 7-0; 21: J O'Connell try, 12-0; D Kearney conv, 14-0; 37: N Sheehy try, 14-5; G Redmond conv, 14-7. Half-time. 35: D Kearney pen, 17-7.
CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE: D Kearney; M Sheehy, T Fletcher, S Kennedy, C O'Callaghan; C Wade, M McLoughlin; C Spelman, T Burns, J O'Connell; N Delehanty, N Mullen; B O'Keeffe, T Joyce, T Conneely (capt). Replacements: M Collis for J O'Connell (40 mins), D McCormack for C Spelman (63 mins), S Lennon for C O'Callaghan, R Timlin for N Delehanty (both 64 mins).
ST MARY'S COLLEGE: D Hudson; R Crotty, C McGlade, S Walsh, N Sheedy; G Redmond, P Early; J McGrath, P Barrett, R Shaffrey; B Shortt, P Gannon; R Bent, S Timmons (capt), D Wilson. Replacements: M McCabe for B Shortt (54 mins), B O'Connell for R Bent, C Quinn for S Walsh (both 69 mins).
Referee: K Beggs (ARLB).
