UCC surprised their fans with the intensity of their display, but it brought rich rewards in the form of a place in the second round of the Munster Senior Cup when they deservedly defeated Waterpark at Musgrave Park on Saturday.

The students fell behind inside a minute and were 6-3 down when full-back Dominic Crotty struck with a marvellous individual try. College never looked back after that and while Waterpark launched a meaningful response in the third quarter when they looked capable of turning it around, the Cork side hit back again to dominate the closing stages.

The experienced Brendan Moran dropped a goal for Waterpark and then hit back with a penalty after Ronan O'Gara had equalised with a seventh minute penalty for the students.

But the highlight of this often exciting game came in the 31st minute when Crotty came up on the blind side of his scrum inside his own half and left everyone for dead before touching down near the posts to afford O'Gara an easy conversion.

O'Gara added a penalty 12 minutes into the second half and while John Walsh narrowed the gap with a try six minutes later, UCC centre O'Gara, a star of last year's Schools Cup victory for PBC kicked his third penalty to secure a place in the next round.

A try at the end of the third quarter from their number and captain, Donal O'Leary, helped inspire Corinthians to a 15-0 success in their Connacht Senior league clash against Sligo at Corinthian Park yesterday.