Leinster Senior Cup quarter-final: St Michaels 16 - Clongowes 13 It has long been said that, even in a non-vintage year, Clongowes Wood College are the most stubborn team to kill off. Yesterday was merely another case in point.
St Michael's seemed to play within themselves but when transition-year student Noel Reid made it 13-6 with a second penalty nine minutes into the second half that seemed to be that.
After going toe-to-toe up front all afternoon, a decent crowd in Donnybrook expected Leinster under-19 outhalf Andrew Cummiskey to unleash his back line. Such a tactic never materialised as the St Michael's pack, under the able leadership of Tyrone McKillen, continued to batter away at the Clongowes rearguard. It very nearly cost them a March 2nd date at Lansdowne Road against old rivals St Mary's College.
Clongowes outside centre Kevin McKeown twice exploited gaps out wide. From the second such break he was hauled down inches from the line by Conor Cleary. The supporting David Kearney, brother of Leinster winger Robert, did get over but the try was disallowed for a knock-on in the tackle.
It mattered little as Clongowes' rapid recycling eventually led to captain Anthony Ryan muscling his way over to complete a relentless assault. Kearney added a difficult conversion, into a swirling wind, to level the contest. Seven minutes remained and St Michael's cup credentials were under review.
They duly returned fire but it was far from clinical. The forwards engineered a drop-goal opportunity for Cummiskey but it was well blocked by Ryan. However, the outhalf showed good awareness to grab the loose ball and draw a high tackle near the left touchline. Ryan nailed the pressure penalty.
In keeping with the school's tradition of refusing to surrender, Clongowes bombarded the Bective end deep into injury-time before referee Ken Henley-Willis let St Michael's off the hook with the full-time whistle.
One Clongowes regret will surely be the spurning of a kickable penalty late on that would have forced a replay. The tap and go decision - from the safe perch of retrospect - proved unwise.
St Michael's strangely opted to meet the trench warfare of their opponents head on. It suited the physically strong Clongowes pack, who were led to every breakdown by Michael Kavanagh.
The flanker slowed and turned over plenty of possession but, equally, he received a hard time from the referee who penalised him at crucial points of the contest.
When St Michael's did go wide off first phase, the result was a try for Patrick Brophy after eight minutes. Reid added the extras. Kearney kept Clongowes in touch with two penalties before the break.
St Michael's deserved to progress and they will have learned more in those desperately tense final minutes on their own line than a year on the training ground.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 8 mins: P Brophy try, 5-0; N Reid conv, 7-0; 15 mins: D Kearney pen, 7-3; 42 mins: D Kearney pen, 7-6. half-time. 41 mins: N Reid pen, 10-6; 44 mins: N Reid pen, 13-6; 63 mins: A Ryan try, 13-11; D Kearney conv, 13-13; 69 mins: N Reid pen, 16-13.
ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: M Twomey; N Reid, C Cleary, N Reynolds, P Brophy; A Cummiskey, R Shanley; I Leonard, P Hynes, A Pollard; A Byrne, K McKenna; P Mallon, R Reilly, T McKillen (capt). Replacements: M Kelly for A Pollard (49 mins).
CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE: D Kearney; K Mahony, K McKeown, T Fletcher, A Dillon; J Nagle, D Kelleher; MJ McDonagh, C Spellman, B Barkley; T Conneely, E Mahony; J Lynch, M Kavanagh, A Ryan (capt). Replacements: R Lynch for A Dillon (22 mins), C McGann for D Kelleher (64 mins), P Fannon for T Conneely (67 mins).
Referee: K Henley-Willis (ARLB).
