St Michael's 7; Castleknock 6: Sport, like life, simply isn't fair at times. Yesterday's Leinster Schools Junior Cup Final before a 6,000 crowd shoehorned into Donnybrook was a case in point. Castleknock College were the better side on the day and the scoreboard for all bar 60 seconds. In that short time their universe crumbled.
Trailing 6-0 in the fifth minute of injury time, St Michael's dredged up one final assault. Pacy fullback Frank Kearney surged up the touchline following an orthodox backline movement and although stopped seven metres from the line, the pack twice rumbled closer.
Outhalf Andrew Cummiskey screamed for the ball and when it arrived his short pass to number eight Ronan O'Connor allowed the latter to power through a couple of tackles and touch down just to the right of the posts. Centre Oliver Cleary's conversion was the last act of a remarkable afternoon.
It may take a while for the Castleknock players to recover from the trauma of this defeat; not the fact that they lost but the timing of their downfall. They had dominated the possession stakes for most of the afternoon, with the exception of the line-out where Michael's offered some neat variations. The ban on lifting at this level guarantees the contest out of touch is exactly that.
Still Castleknock enjoyed a solid platform provided by their strong pack. Alan Hickey had a fine game at number eight, making a couple of barnstorming runs, while captain and flanker Eoin Mullen was probably the outstanding player on the pitch. It was his ability to breach the initial line of defence, to snaffle ball at the breakdown and to support the player in possession that marked him as a player of all round talent.
South African born centre Sean Makay used his physique effectively to swat aside tackles on several occasions but Castleknock could not deliver points from promising situations. They could not put St Michael's away, and it would come back to haunt them.
Despite being outplayed for much of the afternoon, Michael's looked the more dangerous side behind the scrum, from outhalf Cummiskey to fullback Frank Kearney.
The toast of the college this morning for his try scoring intervention, O'Connor, frequently made the hard yards and was ably assisted by his pack in which Eric Sherlock and Royce Burke-Flynn caught the eye.
Castleknock led 3-0 at the interval through a penalty from their talented outhalf Brian Collins on 13 minutes.
That appeared to be the insurance Castleknock required. For Michael's it simplified the situation - only a converted try would suffice - and their clarity of purpose coincided with their most cohesive passage of rugby in the game. It showed great character to claim a second crown in the school's history.
Words of consolation will seem inadequate for a few days yet as Castleknock contemplate the defeat but they should recall that they played some superb rugby in getting to the final and for all bar that 60 seconds the better rugby on the afternoon.
Scoring sequence. 13 mins: Collins penalty, 3-0. Half-time: 3-0. 55: Collins penalty, 6-0; 64: O'Connor try, Cleary conversion, 6-7.
ST MICHAEL'S: F Kearney; J Power, D McGowan, O Cleary, G Clarke; A Cummiskey, D Rowan; D Mahoney, K Sheahan (capt), R Burke-Flynn; J Garry, E Sherlock; K Feeney, R O'Connor, E Lowe. Replacements: A Keane for Rowan 48 mins; R O'Hanrahan for Burke-Flynn 57 mins.
CASTLEKNOCK: D Stapleton; P Kennedy, S Mackay, P Conway, K Coombes; B Collins, D O'Connor; C Farrell, C McIntyre, D O'Connell; H Carty, R O'Mahoney; E Cummins, A Hickey, E Mullen (capt).
Referee: W Sheridan (Leinster).
