LEINSTER SCHOOLS' JUNIOR CUP FINAL REPORT/St Michael's College 0 Clongowes Wood College 36:NO ARGUMENTS anyway about the best under-15 schools team in Leinster. Having already done a comprehensive job on the holders Blackrock en route to yesterday's decider, Clongowes equalled the greatest margin of victory ever in a Junior Cup finaland in the process gave the 4,100 crowd a fine exhibition of continuity rugby.
Their excellent leader, Conor Gilsenan, was marginally short with a late, long-range penalty that would have surpassed the previous record, achieved by Blackrock in 2006.
What makes Gilsenan's 11-point haul from place kicks even more remarkable is his size; a secondrow, he also bossed the lineout and carried plenty of ball around the fringes to provide the Clongowes backs with a platform.
The result looked fairly certain after just eight minutes when Oscar Ó Súilleabháin gathered a clever crossfield kick from outhalf David Quirke to speed past the cover. By the time Oscar's twin, Gareth, showed a little finesse and a lot of power to bulldoze over for the fifth Clongowes try on 47 minutes the result was long since confirmed.
This was a chastising experience for these young St Michael's players. Their misfortune was to be dissected under the main spotlight but they will learn and return stronger for senior rugby.
While the Clongowes pack were dominant, particularly in securing clean and quick possession, it was Quirke at outhalf who lit up the contest with a wonderful try after 19 minutes. The defence was questionable but three delightful side-steps saw the number 10 stroll under the posts untouched.
This happened moments after St Michael's lost Karl Devin to what appeared to be concussion.
After an eight minute injury delay, Clongowes merely picked up where they had left off.
A 17-0 half-time scoreline might have left some hope of a revival but Clongowes prop Evan Balfe was driven over before the interval and Gilsenan's fine conversion left a vast gulf between the sides.
St Michael's battled on but the Clongowes number eight Diarmuid Kennedy, another who excelled, confirmed the intuition we were watching one of the finest ever Junior Cup teams when he gathered flanker Bryan Grehan's clever inside pass to touch down.
Another pure strike from Gilsenan drew applause from all sections of Donnybrook stadium.
The shackles were off now and we began to see some marvellous flowing rugby, born out of a fine coaching structure, with players attacking from deep. Only the persistence of the St Michael's cover defence kept them out.
The best chance of St Michael's avoiding a shut-out came via a turnover but as captain Matty Hanrahan seized on an knock-on and galloped into open field the whistle of referee Barry O'Keeffe pulled play back for a St Michael's scrum. Thereafter, they struggled to get out of their own half.
The injury count also continued to mount, the St Michael's outhalf Luke McGrath being carried off with a leg injury before the finish.
The replacements' bench had already been emptied so they were forced to play the remaining three minutes with 14 players. They had also lost hooker Johnny O'Driscoll to a fractured ankle last week.
Clongowes have long been a major force in the schools game but they had not annexed the Junior Cup since 1952.
Maybe they were waiting to unleash this superb team upon Leinster rugby.
The progress into the senior ranks of Gilsenan, Quirke, Kennedy, Stephen McAuley and the Ó Súilleabháin twins will be keenly monitored.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: C Gilsenan pen, 3-0; 8: Ó Súilleabháin try, Gilsenan con, 10-0; 19: D Quirke try, Gilsenan con, 17-0; 29: E Balfe try, Gilsenan con, 24-0 (half-time 24-0); 35: D Kennedy try, Gilsenan con, 31-0; 47: G Ó Súilleabháin try, 36-0.
CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE: G Ó Súilleabháin; H Burns, S McAuley, C Joyce, O Ó Súilleabháin; D Quirke, C McQuaid; E Balfe, J Wallace, T Collis; C Gilsenan (capt), B Phelan; N McCarthy, B Grehan, D Kennedy. Replacements: B Byrne for J Wallace (36 mins), E Byrne for T Collis (45 mins), N Rhatigan for D Kennedy (54 mins), J Coghlan for B Phelan, J Glynn for C McQuaid (both 59 mins), K McMullen for H Burns, N Jones for C Joyce (both 61 mins).
ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: M Corballis; R Kavanagh, K Devin, J Redmond, P Cleary; L McGrath, B Butler; T O'Connell, A Murphy, T Grealis; J Gallagher, M Hanrahan (capt); R O'Neill, J Headon, C Daly. Replacements: T Slattery for K Devin (12 mins), B Holland for T O'Connell, R Lynch for B Butler (both 31 mins), C Fagen for P Cleary (36 mins), M O'Neill for T Grealis, O Moyles for J Headon, K Victory for J Gallagher (all 54 mins).
Referee: B O'Keeffe (ARLB).
