St Andrews - 6 Newbridge - 0: Forget the low score, tradition and even the bitterly cold conditions, as yesterday's Vinnie Murray match at Lakelands was a victory for the minnows.
It's rare this competition produces a shock of this magnitude, but two penalty strikes from St Andrew's outstanding outhalf and captain, Felix Jones, ensured they removed the pre-competition favourites.
A further carrot for the Booterstown school is they are now just one game away from a place in the Senior Cup proper against Belvedere College on January 31st. First, though, they must circumnavigate last year's giant-killers, St Patrick's Classical School, Navan, next Wednesday in north Kildare.
The ebb and flow of the game was familiar stuff; St Andrew's' confidence gradually increased as the contest wore on, while their physically superior opponents became ever more frustrated.
It was far from pretty as the error count quickly spilled into double figures. Another common feature of the contest was spoilage at the breakdown, which kept referee Barry O'Keefe busy throughout.
St Andrew's played with a gale behind them in the opening half and this, at the heel of the hunt, proved decisive. Within six minutes they were probing their opponents' defence out wide, and soon after Jones had his first punt at goal after the ball was killed on the deck. From 35 metres out and dead centre, he duly spilt the uprights.
This visibly calmed his team-mates, and they continued to pound their opponents' line for the next 15 minutes. Number eight James McDermott even appeared to touch down over the line, near the right corner flag, but it was disallowed. The underdogs' chance appeared to have passed.
Eventually, the Newbridge pack regained possession and rumbled their way up field. Outhalf David Ahearne was twice involved in their only flowing back-line move of the afternoon, but a forward pass brought the attack to an end in the St Andrew's 22.
The St Andrew's eight continued to stand firm and even engineered another long-range kick at goal for Jones. He had the distance, but it drifted wide. They kept coming though, and after another ball was slow in coming from a ruck, Jones was given the simplest of chances to extend the lead before the interval.
The second half was a squalid affair, littered with mistakes, but it was the refusal of players to roll away in the tackle that prevented any rhythm being generated on either side.
Newbridge's only scoring chance arrived on 55 minutes, but Ahearne's penalty came off the post.
In injury time, Newbridge began to find chinks in the armour, but St Andrew's tackled themselves to a standstill, with the final do-or-die hit by Seb Woods on Cillian O'Shea epitomising the performance.
Scoring sequence: 8 mins: F Jones pen, 3-0; 33: S Jones pen, 6-0.
ST ANDREW'S COLLEGE: J Murphy; M Byers, P Norton, B Duffy, S Flett; F Jones (capt), M Evans; E Ayken, N Lowther, D Davis; S Woods, S McInnes; G Davis, J McDermott, D O'Connail. Replacements: G Woodroofe for G Davis (47 mins), J Willis for D O'Connail (49 mins), A Obernick for Duffy (50 mins), B Clarke for Ayken (65 mins), N Shine for S Flett (70 mins).
NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE: N Osbourne; W Ryan, J Kavanagh, J Ryan, S Mangan; D Ahearne, D Tinsley; Brendan O'Shea, G O'Reilly, C O'Shea; R Whelan, Billy O'Shea; T Kerrigan, A O'Hara, R Mulryan (capt). Replacements: A Cella for Mulryan (40 mins), L Gough for Ahearne, B Conlon for Brendan O'Shea (both 62 mins).
Referee: B O'Keefe (Leinster Branch).
