St Mary's College 11 Kilkenny College 5:ST MARY'S withstood a furious second-half onslaught by Kilkenny to keep their hopes of Leinster Junior Cup glory alive in Maynooth yesterday.
The Blues led 11-0 at half-time courtesy of a fine Conor Watters try and two penalties from the boot of scrumhalf John Delaney and it took some resolute defence by Kilkenny to keep in touch.
With the wind at their backs for the second half, the boys from the Marble City laid siege on the St Mary’s line, but this time it was the Dublin outfit that put their bodies on the line to good effect.
They were finally breached midway through the latter period, when prop Stephen Beattie blocked Delaney’s attempted clearance and won the race to touch down.
Kilkenny were within five metres of the line right at the death but St Mary’s captain Tom Lynch ripped the ball away to enable Ben Hoey to find touch in the last act of a compelling encounter.
ST MARY'S COLLEGE: J Duffy; C Watters, M Oppermann, D Cogley, K Murphy; B Hoey, J Delaney; T Lynch, P Fogarty, M Fitzgerald; P McHugh, D Shaffrey; K Mannion, C Whelan, M Larney. Replacement: H Diepmann for McHugh.
KILKENNY COLLEGE: C Varian; J Melbourne, J Bradford, H Talbot, K Beattie; C Miller, D Kelso; R Stanley, R Whitford, S Pim; G Hastings, M Whitten; C Armstrong, D Farrell, S Beattie. Replacements: N Condell for Armstrong inj; J Hopkins for Farrell.
Referee: G Sheridan
