Cistercian Roscrea  46, St Columba's 0: St Columba's tackled tenaciously but were outweighed and outgunned by Roscrea's strong pack and hard-running backs at Tullamore.

On a heavy sod and with a strong wind blowing across the pitch, Roscrea opened their account after five minutes when full back Andy Smith crossed for a try which Conor Phelan converted. Ten minutes later Conor Phelan rounded off a fine move with a try which he converted.

Winger Julian Hall added to the try tally almost from the restart. St Columba's then suffered a double-blow when efficient captain Sean Scott and Paul Danashamy were injured. Colm Denham and Craig Goodbody replaced them.

Just on half-time, John Byrne burst through for another try. That left the score 24-0 at half-time and the pattern continued in the second half: outstanding number eight John Phelan scored two tries, the first converted by his brother Conor, and Alan Wrafter and Denis Boland also crossed.

Scoring:  5 mins: Smith try, C Phelan con 7-0; 15: C Phelan try, con 14-0; 16: J Hall try 19-0; 40: J Byrne try 24-0. Half-time: 24-0. 43: J Phelan try, C Phelan con 31-0; 50: J Phelan try 36-0; 55: A Wrafter try 41-0; 68: D Boland try 46-0.

St Columba's: J O'Malley; A Musgrave, M Quinn, P Black, A White; B Cork, J Hamilton; D Dobbs, E Hsu, S Scott (capt), P Danashamy, B Sadek, J Wheeler, P Cooper, H Gervais. Replacements: T Philgate, C Denham, J Horsey, A McArdle, C Goodbody, P Temple.

Roscrea: A Smith; J Hall, C Phelan, E Kelliher (capt), A Wrafter; FLawlor, C Harrington; P Green, J Egan, E Hearn, J Byrne, L Meehan, B Hall, I McCarthy, J Phelan. Replacements: R O'Donnell, P Fleming, J O'Rourke, K Rouse, D Boland, D Dineen, M Leahy.

Referee: B Payne (ARLB).