St Michael's College 25 St Mary's College 10:ANOTHER LOP-SIDED meeting of old rivals in the Leinster Schools Cup as St Michael's College progressed to the semi-final at a canter. Now it gets really serious, with the winner of Monday's heavyweight quarter-final between Blackrock and defending champions Clongowes Wood next up for captain Luke McGrath's crew on March 4th.
That means they will face either the school which beat them in last year’s final or a derby with the neighbours. It promises to be the definitive match of 2011.
It may sound surprising to suggest that despite victories over Belvedere and now St Mary’s, we remain unsure just how good this St Michael’s team are. For certain, they are bubbling over with talent, particularly scrumhalf McGrath and flanker Daniel Leavy, but the lack of genuine resistance makes it difficult to identify faults. And every team has weaknesses.
Three first-half tries were ruthlessly garnered and, at 22-0, the result looked sown up with 35 minutes still to play.
From the kick-off St Mary’s gave away a needless penalty that Rory Kavanagh slotted to settle any nerves.
Fifteen minutes later outhalf Bobby Holland broke the gainline before presenting wing Mark Corballis, one of last year’s outstanding players, with a view of the try line. He side-stepped the last man before gliding over.
The second try was finished by the other wing, Cian Kelleher, but really the drifting defence should have swept him into touch.
The contest slipped out of St Mary’s reach just before half-time when Leavy gathered Rory O’Loughlin’s chip for the third touchdown. It would have been a penalty try anyway as Kelleher’s acceleration prompted Philip Dix to tug on his jersey. Dix was subsequently sin-binned.
And that seemed to be that.
Thankfully, St Mary’s restored some pride in the jersey. Whatever coach Rodney O’Donnell, a 1980 Lions tourist, said to his men in the huddle, it sparked a valiant second-half revival. Gerry Gallivan eventually barged over after several rumbles off Matthew Andreucetti’s expertly taken lineout.
Hugh McDonnell added the conversion and posted a long-range penalty soon after to suddenly bring the contest to life at 22-10.
Jonathan Sexton’s younger brother Jerry was prominent as he, along with Gallivan, led the pack into the trenches.
St Michael’s realised they needed to up the intensity and did so, taking a foothold in the 22. Their pack relished the battle with Leavy excelling while openside Andrew Murphy had another fine game living off scraps. Big lock Donagh Lawlor also landed some important, bone-crunching tackles.
A turnover seemed destined to produce a breakaway try for St Mary’s right wing Eoin O’Farrell, but fullback Brendan Daly was deemed to have flung out a forward pass. It was a real chance and it was to be their last.
The forwards’ desperation to get back down field eventually led to the concession of a penalty, 35 metres out and in front of the posts. McGrath took over the kicking duties to slam shut the door at 25-10.
The rest is immaterial but here’s what we know about St Michael’s so far: they have a solid set-piece, powerful centres in the Rorys, Kavanagh and O’Loughlin, assassins outside them and a gem of a scrumhalf with a future in this game. McGrath was kept quiet for most of yesterday, yet he still managed to showcase an array of impressive kicking from tee and the base of rucks.
He and St Michael’s look the part, but that will come under a far sterner examination next.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 1 min: Kavanagh pen, 3-0; 16: Corballis try, Kavanagh con, 10-0; 24: Kelleher try, 15-0; 32: Leavy try, Kavanagh con, 22-0 (h-t). 40: Gallivan try, McDonnell con, 22-7; 45: McDonnell pen, 22-10; 56: L McGrath pen, 25-10.
ST MICHAEL’S COLLEGE: C Diamond; M Corballis, R O’Loughlin, R Kavanagh, C Kelleher; B Holland, L McGrath (capt); T O’Connell, J Headon, J Lawless; M O’Neill, D Lawlor; D Leavy, A Murphy, C Daly. Replacements: D Coulson for O’Connell (55 mins), B Butler for McGrath (67 mins), S Dawson for Kelleher (68 mins), R Byrne for O’Loughlin, R O’Neill for Headon (both 70 mins).
ST MARY’S COLLEGE: B Daly; E Farrell, B Matthews, C Delaney, P Dix; H MacDonnell, C Barden; T Young, I Hickey, G Gallivan; T Barrett, M Andreucetti; J Sexton (capt), J Walsh, S O’Carroll. Replacements: I Robinson for O’Carroll (23 mins), J O’Mahony for Dix (40 mins), E Boyle for Young (50 mins), R McPhillips for Barrett, J Blackburn for Barden (both 66 mins), J Levins for Walsh, T Conway for Delaney (both 67 mins).
Referee: P Haycock.
