Schools Rugby/McMullen Cup: Mount Temple just about held on to defeat never-say-die St Patrick's Classical School, Navan, 20-18 in a Leinster Schools Section A McMullen Cup semi-final cliffhanger at Coolmine yesterday.
Both sides took it in turn to look like winners. Temple's Ian Denham and St Patrick's Eamon Sheridan kicked superbly throughout, but Ciaran Smyth's two tries for the losers were cancelled out by the finishing of Shane Byrne and Glen Predy.
Smyth's second try in the 67the minute narrowed the deficit to just two points. But Sheridan could not convert the difficult kick, and Karl Manning was agonisingly close to stealing it with a last-gasp drop goal.
It was the greater firepower up front that put Naas CBS into position for fullback Conor Young and centre Max Bradley to provide the tries that edged out Wilson's Hospital 12-9 at Edenderry. The bigger Naas boys rumbled forward to set up positive situations for wing Eoin Conran to carry the ball at pace, while inspirational centre Gavin Dooley made some heavy hits on the opposition.
Wilson's recovered from the concession of two first-half tries to trail 12-6 at the interval. Philip Gardiner landed his third penalty to narrow the gap to three before his brave, long-range effort missed the target five minutes from the finish.
At Coolmine - Mount Temple 20 (G Predy, S Byrne try each; I Denham 2 pens, 2 cons); St Patrick's Navan 18 (C Smyth 2 tries; E Sheridan 2 pens, con). At Edenderry - Naas CBS 12 (C Young, M Bradley try each; C O'Brien con); Wilson's Hospital 9 (P Gardiner 3 pens).
