At least St Mary's were not obliged to over-strain themselves, as they tuned up for their semi-final assignment with Shannon in Limerick. They registered seven tries (to finish as the league's top scorers overall) against a gregarious but depleted Old Belvedere at Anglesea Road.
Leinster's most accomplished side exerted themselves powerfully in the first 20 minutes of each half. Largely through the combined resources of Victor Costello, Trevor Brennan, Conor McGuinness and Kevin Nowlan, they led 17-0 after the opening quarter and then 41-10 going into the dying exchanges. Then an orgy of substitutions allowed leading figures to conserve some fuel for next weekend.
Costello, irrepressible throughout, fed McGuinness to set up the opening score by the darting Kevin McNamee (deputising for John McWeeney). Nowlan joined the offensive to send Denis Hickie in for his 11th AIL try, to which Craig Fitzpatrick added the points, and then Brennan charged through to increase the margin.
With Colin Gleeson taking several good balls in the line-out, Belvedere ralled for Billy Treacy to land a penalty goal and convert a try under the posts by Damien Ward after a right-wing thrust by Dave Keogh.
Their mere 17-10 lead at the break spurred St Mary's into a full assault and Nowlan found space for the captain Steve Jameson to steam over in the corner three minutes into the second half.
With Costello and Brennan on the rampage, further tries flowed from Barry Browne, Nowlan and McGuinness, with two conversions by Fitzpatrick, before a last tango came from Belvedere as Keogh sent Steve Cleave racing clear.
Scoring sequence: 12 mins: McNamee try, 0-5; 17: Hickie try, Fitzpatrick conversion, 0-12; 20: Brennan try, 0-17; 23: Treacy penalty, 3-17; 40: Ward try, Treacy conversion, 10-17; 43: Jameson try, Fitzpatrick conversion, 10-24; 49: Browne try, 10-29; 53: Nowlan try, Fitzpatrick conversion, 10-36; 60: McGuinness try, 10-41; 78: Cleave try, 15-41.
Old Belvedere: S Cleave; D Keogh, B Treacy, S Sexton, P McKenna; B Murphy (capt), D Ward; T Kearns, L Weigland, G O'Neill, W Whitton, C Gleeson, G Gormley, S Walsh, T Murphy. Replacements: C Johnston for T Murphy (46 mins), M Henderson for Whitton (54), S Cahill for Wiegand (63), G Cremin for Kearns (66).
St Mary's College: K Nowlan; K McNamee, E Gibney, G Gannon, D Hickie; C Fitzpatrick, C McGuinness; E Byrne, B Browne, P Coyle, S Jameson (capt), F Fitzgerald, T Brennan, V Costello, M Reilly. Replacements: G Quinn for Brennan (39-44 temp), E McCormack for McGuinness, P Lane for Hickie, P Power for Browne, Quinn for Costello (all 70), R Lynch for Byrne (78).
Referee: T Redmond (ARLB).
