All-Ireland Cup final/Cork Constitution - 37 St Mary's - 12: There could only ever be one winner of Saturday's inaugural AIB All Ireland Cup final. As one of their backroom staff said in the aftermath of what must have been their most poignant success, they had a 16th man playing for them.
One can only imagine the drain on this squad over the last two weeks after the tragic loss of their talented ouhalf/centre Conrad O'Sullivan at 25 years of age. They had to win this for him.
"It's been a tough few weeks and for a young side we didn't know how all of us were going to cope with it, to be honest," said coach Brian Walsh outside an emotional dressingroom. "They coped very well, took on a lot of responsibility and made up their minds they were going to go out and perform, and I think they did in the end. It helped that we were always ahead and never had to force the game."
Mary's had narrowly lost the Leinster Senior Cup final to Clontarf a week ago, which made them more match-hardened, and it showed in a sprightly opening which twice required Anthony Horgan's defensive work to keep them at bay.
Even then, however, Con looked physically the stronger in contact, and once they got their lineout maul rumbling and hero of the day Cronan Healy, typically, popped up in midfield to score off a clever, delayed offload by lock Shane Cottrell, there only ever looked like being one winner.
After Frank Lynch stepped in for the bloodbinned Jonathon Sexton at outhalf to score with a strong blindside run off a scrum 40 metres out, Healy popped up as first receiver to score off his own neat grubber, and he twice profited from Mary's attempts at catch-up from deep by first wresting the ball from John McWeeney behind the try-line and then supporting for a more orthodox finish.
In between, it was good to see Horgan finish off the try of the match on the ground where his confidence first began to evaporate against the All Blacks last November.
It emanated from Frank Murphy sprinting up the narrowest of blindside corridors and cheekily offloading one-handed inside to the ubiquitous Healy, Con recycling and putting it through hands for Horgan to score in the corner off Gleeson's skip pass.
If Healy was the match-winner, and Frank Cogan led from the front, Murphy was the game's class act. Given he is blessed with an economical and quick service off either hand and is a real running threat and decision-making presence, his treatment by Munster appears curious.
St Mary's showed their threat when they moved the ball wide and kept it alive, and a try for rookie Templeogue recruit Keith Douglas was fair reward for their approach and his potent running.
They weren't helped by losing backrowers Adrian Copeland and Paul Nash in the opening half and for the rest of the season, although Ciarán Potts lent plenty of strength, and their all-action Swedish-born recruit from last season's Wanderers under-20s, Heinrik Gervais, impressed with his work at the breakdown and his ball-carrying close-in.
Scoring sequence: 16 mins: Healy try, Lyons con 7-0; 19: Lynch try, Lynn con 7-7; 24: Healy try 12-7; 39: Lyons drop goal 15-7 (half-time 15-7); 45: Horgan try 20-7; 55: Healy try, Lyons con 27-7; 63: Lyons pen 30-7; 65: Douglas try 30-12; 70: Healy try, Lyons con 37-12.
CORK CONSTITUTION: R Lane; A Horgan, T Gleeson, C Quaid, C Healy; D Lyons, F Murphy; M Ross, D Murray, T Ryan; S Cottrell, J Maloney; M O'Connell, B Cutriss, F Cogan (capt). Replacements: A O'Brien for Quaid (60 mins), J Murray, B O'Connor, L Hill and A Ryan for Ross, Cottrell, Horgan and Gleeson (all 74 mins), JJ Cahill, R O'Donovan for O'Connell and Murphy (both 80 mins).
ST MARY'S COLLEGE: F Lynch; J Norton, K Douglas, B Lynn, J McWeeney (capt); J Sexton, J Kilbride; C O'Byrne, P Smyth, P Collins; E Keane, G Logan; W Duggan, P Nash, A Copeland. Replacements: C Potts for Copeland (12 mins), R Gannon for Sexton (18-30 mins) and Lynch (63 mins), M Duggan for W Duggan (40-46 mins) and O'Byrne (78 mins), H Gervais for Nash (39 mins), S Gibney for Kilbride (57 mins). Not used: R Smyth, O McCormack. Sinbinned: O'Byrne (36 mins).
Referee: George Clancy (Munster).
