Clongowes Wood 5, Templeogue College 3: Clongowes Wood are through to the next round of the senior cup after beating Templeogue College at North Kildare Rugby Club.
Although the scoreline suggests it was a tight match, Clongowes were always in control, and only some desperate Templeogue defending stopped the Kildare school from winning by a more convincing margin.
The opening 20 minutes were quiet, with Templeogue dominating territorially, but they failed to create any real chances, with a missed penalty by Keith Douglas all they had to show for their efforts.
Clongowes dominated for the rest of the game. The opening try, after 28 minutes, came after some sustained pressure from Clongowes. A meandering run by Morgan Hickey-Crowe split open the Templeogue defence and he fed winger, Robert Connolly, to run over for a try. On the stroke of half-time, Templeogue's Douglas held his nerve to knock over a penalty from the 20-metre line to narrow the gap to two points.
The second half was poor, with constant stoppages for injuries disrupting both teams' rhythm. However, Clongowes were still far more threatening with David Kinnelly, Hickey-Crowe and Mark Regan unlucky not to add to the tally.
Scorers: Clongowes: R Connolly try. Templeogue: Douglas pen.
Clongowes: J O'Reilly; R Connolly, M Hickey-Crowe, D Sharkey, M Regan; C Finnan, D Kinnelly; P Walsh, R Gallagher, C Deane, T Fox, M Reilly, A Houlihan, G Murphy, R Fagan
Templeogue: T Sweeney; A Fitzpatrick, D O'Kelly, K Douglas, R Davitt; R Rogers, P Timmons; K Carroll, P Collins, S Muldowney, I Murray, J Griffin, D O'Connell, B Conway, P McGlynn.
