RUGBY LEINSTER SCHOOLS' SENIOR CUP: St Michael's 7 Cistercian, Roscrea 3JOB DONE, eight days later than expected but St Michael's College should be safe in presuming no stiffer a challenge will come until March 18th.
Kilkenny College may disagree.
We spent a good while contemplating the merits of this contest; was it a case of St Michael’s being lofted to great heights too soon, without the necessary evidence to support such a claim, or should Cistercians be credited for their valiant resistance over two fascinating, albeit error-strewn meetings.
We settled on the latter.
Roscrea should have won the 16-all draw. This time, as they chased a late try to snatch the victory, only five minutes were added, in comparison to 16 minutes a week ago.
The same referee was on duty but at least the Leinster Branch had enough sense to supply him with official touch-judges (there was also a perimeter of security guards on duty).
With several key figures from Roscrea’s heroic run to last year’s final back in harness, they relished the physical confrontation presented by Dan Leavy’s athletic pack of St Michael’s forwards.
The Roscrea forwards outplayed them for large tranches here. Seán O’Brien got through a mountain of work once again, but he was eclipsed by team-mate Ross Enraght Moony. The flanker was phenomenal, be it breaking tackles or drilling ball-carriers into the dirt. Rory Moloney also proved a nuisance in a finely balanced backrow.
Enraght Moony nearly orchestrated a phenomenal try when fielding the restart after what ultimately proved the St Michael’s match-winning score.
Leavy had a double hand in the game’s only try. Roscrea failed to find touch, a constant feature by both sides in windy conditions, allowing the St Michael’s captain build up a head of steam that brought them deep into the 22. Their new scrumhalf, Nick McCarthy, shifted play to number eight Donagh Lawler, who sucked in a couple of men before offloading for Leavy to barrel over.
Ross Byrne’s conversion completed his team’s scoring return over 70 minutes (plus time added on).
They should be commended for keeping Roscrea scoreless during McCarthy’s seven minutes in the sin-bin. The yellow card was recommended by a touch-judge, incidentally, after Moony was blocked – not by McCarthy, mind – from regaining possession after an ingenious Philip O’Dwyer reverse kick.
That phase of play seemed to alter the rhythm of the contest. It was probably the moment St Michael’s realised they would lose if O’Dwyer was presented with sufficient possession.
O’Dwyer is a quality fullback, be it running from deep or rocket-launching the ball down field, and he cut a distraught figure on the pitch afterwards as streams of ecstatic blues flowed past him. The loss of his partner in crime, winger Maurice Fitzgerald, to what looked a bad ankle injury on half-time, seemed costly.
By refusing to put boot to ball, St Michael’s were forced to truck it up into a gale for the entire second half. They were continually penalised for going off their feet or not releasing on the ground. However, Ciarán Gaffney was unable to add to his solitary penalty on 47 minutes.
St Michael’s also struggled to manufacture a solid set-piece platform although Leavy and Lawler produced some heroic turnovers when the threat to their line was most grave.
A seminal moment came from another error. O’Dwyer gathered a failed kick to touch and seemed poised to take off on another slippery run only to be dragged into touch by left wing Adam Leavy.
It seemed like St Michael’s first sortie into Roscrea’s territory since the try.
But they did enough to survive and that is a comfort in itself.
A brave and exciting Roscrea outfit had no such luck and are gone.
SCORING SEQUENCE– 11 mins: D Leavy try, 5-0; R Byrne conv, 7-0. Half-time. 47 mins: C Gaffney pen, 7-3.
ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: C Diamond; B McDermott, R Kavanagh, B Holland, A Leavy; R Byrne, N McCarthy; A Barr, H Murray, J Lawless; R Molony, A Coleman; J Murphy, D Leavy (capt), D Lawler. Replacements: C Fagan for B McDermott (30 mins), S Harold for R Molony (39 mins), D Coulson for J Lawless (48 mins), G Kelly for H Murray (51 mins).
CISTERCIAN COLLEGE, ROSCREA:P O'Dwyer (capt); F Higgins, C Brennan, M Mellotte, M Fitzgerald; C Gaffney, G Ryan; S Moran, S Cody, O Heffernan; A McGrath, E Quirke; R Enraght Moony, R Moloney, S O'Brienj. Replacements: M Kelly for M Fitzgerald (35 mins).
Referee: G Glennon (ARLB).
