Leinster Schools' Senior Cup/ St Mary's College 13 Castleknock College 10: In many respects cup rugby is about having the courage to make the hard decisions. Castleknock, for the second time in five years, seemed to make all the right moves but still finished on the wrong side of that fickle line between victory and defeat.
To lose a match in the fourth minute of injury-time that they appeared to have wrapped up under the direction of Ireland under-19 outhalf Brian Collins is a tough pill to swallow.
Credit to St Mary's for keeping pace and equalling their opponents' bravery by taking the risks required to prevail in such a tension-fuelled contest.
In the 74th minute the St Mary's outhalf Neil Cowhey made a decision. His team trailed 10-8, and unlocking Castleknock's defence had become a frustrating exercise, so Cowhey held his breath before landing an exquisite crossfield chip into the arms of Conor McGlade.
Taking possession in his stride, McGlade glided outside fullback Niall O'Donoghue before outsprinting winger David Steacy to the corner, where the Castleknock support were preparing for a pitch invasion.
It was a cruel twist for a team that had done almost enough to be in the Leinster Schools semi-final, especially when you consider a similar fate befell a number of this team in the Junior Cup final of 2002. That nightmare also occurred in Donnybrook, against another Holy Ghost college, St Michael's.
It's a little harsh on the victors to extol the merits of Castleknock individuals but Collins, in scoring a drop goal, try and conversion, was worth the admission price alone. Openside flanker Eoin Cummins also produced a superhuman display in covering every inch of the mangled surface.
Another Ireland under-19, number eight Tom Walsh, may not have had the impact of the previous round in open field but he guaranteed possession come lineout time.
And yet, his opposite number, St Mary's captain Kevin Gallivan, and Gallivan's fellow forwards cancelled out the efforts of this mammoth Castleknock pack.
Also, Cowhey's ability to put behind him two early penalty misses and daringly play high-risk rugby eventually paid off.
The contest actually began at a snail's pace. It wasn't until the 27th minute that a clever Collins drop goal separated the sides.
Castleknock upped the ante thereafter, a half break from Collins only denied a try several phases on by cynical hands in the ruck - an offence repeated throughout this game because of a failure to employ the sinbin. Stern warnings were ignored when yellow cards did not follow.
Five minutes into first-half injury-time, Collins made it a 10-point gap with a show-and-go and touchdown near the posts.
Cowhey pegged them back with a penalty but Castleknock engineered a couple of chances to pull away again.
In particular, scrumhalf Dan O'Connor almost gathered a loose ball with the line in sight.
The persistence of St Mary's eventually saw them cross for their first try with five minutes of normal time remaining. Ironically, it came from a scrum after Walsh knocked on an attempted intercept that would have given him a clear, albeit 80-metre, run to the other end.
From that scrum, Cowhey attacked the blind side to send winger Colm Quinn over. When the outhalf hit the post from the conversion, the St Mary's revival looked destined to fall short.
And when Castleknock secondrow Dermot O'Riordan caught Collins's perfect restart their plight looked hopeless.
Two minutes from time, the Castleknock rolling maul resulted in yet another penalty from negative defending. It presented Collins with a decision: run down the clock by kicking for goal to make it a five-point game or go for the jugular from guaranteed lineout ball.
He chose the latter and there followed a ping-pong session where both side handed the other back possession through forced errors. St Mary's forced a third scrum in this spell, which presented Cowhey with options. He made the right call.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 27 mins: B Collins drop goal, 0-3; 40: B Collins try, con, 0-10 (half-time 0-10); 41: N Cowhey pen, 3-10; 65: C Quinn try, 8-10; 73: C McGlade try, 13-10.
ST MARY'S COLLEGE: D Hudson; C Quinn, J Buggy, C McGlade, R Crotty; N Cowhey, K Finlay; M McKay, E Moran, D Kennedy; J Slowey, P Gannon; S Timmons, P Lalor, K Gallivan (capt). Replacements: M Sexton for R Crotty (h-t), J McGrath for M McKay, M Callinan for D Kennedy, A Hogan for D Hudson (all 60 mins).
CASTLEKNOCK COLLEGE: N O'Donoghue; B McKeon, S Kelly, R Greally, D Steacy; B Collins, D O'Connor; R Murphy, C Barry, E Boylan; D O'Riordan, D McDonald; M Sheerin, E Cummins, T Walsh. Replacements: A Redmond for D McDonald (44 mins).
Referee: A Rogan (ARLB).
