Newbridge College 16 CBC Monkstown 11Lightning did strike twice through two-try Joe Darcy to see Newbridge become the first semi-finalist in the Powerade Leinster Schools Senior Cup at Donnybrook yesterday.
It took the trickery and light touch of outhalf Mark Sutton to turn back a battling Monkstown. CBC started with the right intent, centre Adam Swan coming hard on the inside shoulder to set up a series of rucks which drew a penalty. Scrum-half Ben Mahon split the posts.
The pressure on CBC started to tell at the breakdown where they were slow to roll away. Fullback Chris Healy levelled it from a penalty.
Monkstown responded well and Swan simply had too much pace for a stretched defence, slipping beyond wing Niall Delahunt’s brave tackle to make it 8-3 in the 21st minute.
The impressive work of Newbridge openside Oisín McKnight to snatch possession and the in-close handling of forwards Tom Brady and Brian Hayden threatened a strike back and they were only thwarted when Brady’s short ball was put to ground with a two-man overlap one pass away.
Struck quickly
But they struck quickly for three points one minute into the second half, Healy pounding one over from 40 metres.
Flanker Matthew O’Connor held number eight Mark O’Mahony up in the tackle and Brady ripped the ball free for Sutton to trigger his passing game again. CBC were too quick to come up in defence. But Healy smashed his penalty against the left upright.
CBC could not exit their half. The Black and Whites were moving into position without having the clinical edge to make it count, twice being turned over five metres out.
They just kept cool, closed down the counter-attack and relied on prop Jonathan Phelan to hammer out the hard yards and Sutton to fling a wide ball for Healy to clutch on the bounce and Darcy to ground for an 11-8 lead in the 53rd minute.
Monkstown needed an injection and it came from outhalf Cormac Cullinane, scything over halfway. They just couldn’t protect the ball, Hugh O’Donnell trampling over bodies on a break-out. The chance to press looked to have gone.
This time they showed the ingenuity, countering well to force a shot to goal for not releasing in the tackle. Mahon equalised from 22 metres.
From here, Sutton was given the platform to take over the game, teasing CBC with his passing and running and he was inches from glory in the last minute, referee Dudley Phillips ruling he was held up over the line. It was a mere delay. From a scrum, they moved the ball sweetly along the line for Darcy to claim his second try.
NEWBRIDGE: C Healy; N Delahunt, P Kyne, J O'Neill, J Darcy; M Sutton, J Coghlan-Murray; J Phelan, C Doyle, H O'Donnell, C Nugent, B Hayden (capt), M O'Connor, O McKnight, T Brady. Replacements: J Howlett for Kyne (45 mins); R Mullen for Coghlan-Murray (52 mins); E Wynne for Phelan (57 mins); A Shanahan for O'Neill, R Drumgoole-Maguire for O'Connor (both 63 mins). CBC MONKSTOWN: M Halwax; H Godson-Treacy, M Courtney, A Swan, S Smyth; C Cullinane, B Mahon; K Patterson, D Hanney, E McKeever, B Keaveney, J McGrath, J Brown, A Brennan, M O'Mahony (capt). Replacement: V Law for Keaveney (39 mins). Referee: D Phillips (Leinster Branch).
