Gonzaga ... 16 Clongowes Wood ... 10The never-say-die attitude of Gonzaga College proved too much for a brave Clongowes Wood College in a storming finish to their Leinster Schools' Section C Junior Cup quarter-final at Donnybrook yesterday.
In truth, it could just as easily have gone the other way such was the closeness of the exchanges. This was an end-to-end struggle between two limited teams with unlimited courage and character.
Full back Kevin McKeown put Clongowes into the lead with a thrilling break that cut the opposition defence to ribbons as he first powered through the middle and neatly side-stepped the last man back to make it 5-0 after 24 minutes.
Centre Simon Murphy narrowed the gap to 5-3, at the break, from a penalty. It was in the same position from which he had previously missed from in the eighth minute.
Gonzaga were in front for the first time two minutes into the second period when right wing Peter Lynn handed-off McKeown to go over on the right. The advantage was wiped away by centre Kevin Mahony, who made use of outhalf Darragh Mallon's half-break, to make the line.
The excitement and tension was growing in unison with the soaring confidence of both sides. This was perfectly illustrated in the 49th minute when three forwards, hooker Donagh O'Shea, tighthead James Moriarty and number eight Sam Hodgins all popped up on the right to outfox the Clongowes cover for the latter to score the fourth unconverted try of the match for a 13-10 lead.
This was no guarantee of victory, even as the clock wound down to injury-time. It took Murphy's second penalty, from straight in front but some distance out, to finally silence Clongowes.
SCORERS - Gonzaga College: P Lynn, S Hodgins try each; S Murphy 2 pens. Clongowes Wood College: K McKeown, K Mahony try each.
GONZAGA COLLEGE: M Kelly; P Lynn, M Appleby, S Murphy, S Ryan; S Gahan, W McGreal; J Conlon, D O'Shea, J Moriarty, J Gethings, D O'Sullivan, S Corcoran, G Fitzgerald, S Hodgins. Replacements: J O'Sullivan for Appleby, B Kelly for Fitzgerald, C McKinney for Conlon all 38 mins; E O'Keeffe for D O'Sullivan 58 mins.
CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE: K McKeown; A Dillon, K Mahony, D Feighery, C Browne; D Mallon, R Lynch; E Blaney, J Davison, B Barclay, F McKeagney, E Cavanagh, D Condon, M Kavanagh, A Ryan. Replacements: R O'Connor for Cavanagh 50 mins; C O'Higgins for Davison 53 mins.
Referee: K Laide (Leinster Branch).
