The high school created a major shock in the first round when they sent last year's beaten finalists, Cistercian College, Roscrea, crashing out at Oak Park, Carlow.
Roscrea virtually camped inside the High School 22 for the final 30 minutes, forcing a succession of penalties. But Roscrea chose to kick for touch in the hope of setting up a match-winning score - all of which came to nothing.
High School opened the scoring with a pushover try by James Maher. Gary Black kicked a ninth-minute penalty to extend the lead before Roscrea opened their account with a Gavin Duffy penalty. Aided by the wind, High School hit back for another Black penalty after 22 minutes to lead 11-3. A bout of sustained pressure by the Roscrea had its reward when Duffy crashed over for a try.
A superb drop goal from High School scrum-half David Campbell proved to be the only score of the second-half.
THE HIGH SCHOOL: J Maher; R Simmons, I Logan , S Cusack, W Lett; R Burns, J Ellis; N O'Byrne, D Campbell, G Black, J Kelly; D Foran, E McNally; T O'Brien, I Masood. Replacements: T Bass for Logan, J Collory for Simons (both 68 mins).
CISTERCIAN, ROSCREA: A Kavanagh; D Bardon, S McGrath, F Dodd, A Spring; G Corcoran, B McCann; P Breen, N Grogan, N Maloney, D Ross, C Begley, G Duffy, E Kelliher, T Walsh. Replacements: D Farrell for Dodd (54 mins), E McQuinn for Bardon (injured 62 mins).
Referee: N Lynas (ARLB),
