Schools / Ulster Senior Cup Final: Methodist College 11 Campbell College 5: A moment of magic from the Methodist College captain David Johnston sealed their 13th Ulster Schools' Cup win against their fierce Belfast rivals Campbell College in a thrilling game at Ravenhill yesterday.
Methody led by a single point in injury-time having been on the back foot for most of the second half when Johnston picked up from the base of a scrum on the Campbell 10-metre line, chipped over into the cover and regathered before running in for a brilliant individual try.
Owen McMurray missed the conversion but the score gave Methody valuable breathing space as Campbell kept pressing right to the end of a game which featured 12 minutes of injury-time.
Campbell will be waking up this morning thinking of what might have been, after dominating the game for long periods and playing most of the rugby. They also provided the two outstanding players in their brilliant centre pairing of Simon Rea and Jamie Smith, who enjoys a good rugby pedigree as the nephew of the former Ulster, Ireland and Lions hooker Steve Smith.
Smith was an immense presence throughout, cutting Methody open at will, taking most of Campbell's kicks and popping up at centre, outhalf and scrumhalf in an all-action display which marked him down as a star of the future.
Rea provides a perfect foil to Smith's rapier, as more of an aggressive front-on ball carrier in the Rob Henderson mould. He sent alarm bells ringing in the opposition ranks every time he got the ball and he made a number of barnstorming runs which tested Methody's defence to the limit.
Lesser teams would have cracked under the pressure Campbell applied but Methody produced another superb defensive display with their outstanding backrow led by Johnston making the big hits and their scramble defence snuffed out the danger when the opposition did make any line breaks.
Methody made the early running, putting Campbell under pressure in their 22 and charging down a couple of clearance kicks which could easily have led to tries.
The Pirrie Park side made their pressure count when they were awarded a penalty after eight minutes which their fullback Owen McMurray kicked to give them an early lead.
Campbell hit back with Rea taking the ball deep in his own half and bursting through three tackles on a searing run before he was hauled down in the opposition 22.
Methody tried to clear their lines but Chris Quinn's kick was charged down by the Campbell outhalf Rory Boyd who followed up to score an unconverted try.
Methody went back on the offensive and when Campbell were penalised at a scrum they regained the lead with a second penalty from McMurray.
Playing with a strong breeze in the second half Campbell dominated but their hopes took a blow when their hard-running skipper Peter Glass limped off after 39 minutes.
Smith and Rea continued to probe for an opening and on a number of occasions they looked like making a breakthrough but Methody maintained their composure and kept making their tackles count, before Johnston provided the coup de grace to a memorable cup win.
METHODIST COLLEGE: O McMurray; C Quinn, C O'Kane, J Crossey, P McFadden; R Blake-Knox, S Bell; A Sproule, P McMahon, A Mackin, A Annett, A Jackson, J Kernaghan, M Robinson, D Johnston (capt). Replacements: M McClean for Glass (39 mins)
CAMPBELL COLLEGE: P Glass (capt); J Castles, S Rea, J Smith, J Yeung; R Boyd, A Dougherty; N McLaughlin, K Yellop, P Eadie, D Bradford, G Rankin, B McDonnell, R McCullagh, J Ferguson.
Referee: Alistair McKay (Ulster Branch)
