Sport

St Munchin's send the holders packing

Schools Rugby Munster Junior Cup St Munchins 17 CBC 10 St Munchin's College came through the second round quarter-final qualifying…

Wed Feb 14 2007 - 00:00

Schools Rugby Munster Junior Cup St Munchins 17 CBC 10St Munchin's College came through the second round quarter-final qualifying stage of this year's Avonmore Milk Munster Schools Junior Cup against Christian Brothers College at Thomond Park yesterday.

The defending champions bowed out with pride after a consolidated effort in the final stages brought them back into the game and set up an exciting climax.

Having been defeated by the Cork side by just one point in last year's final, it was a sweet victory for St Munchin's.

The Limerick school started brightly, crossing the line within five minutes with a try from prop Cathal O'Shea. Outhalf Eamonn Carr's conversion gave the Limerick side a 7-0 lead.

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Eight minutes later, Carr was again on target with a well struck penalty to stretch their lead to 10-0 and that was the score going into the break.

After the restart, another early St Munchin's try kept the Cork side on the back foot, with prop James McGovern touching down after 41 minutes.

Carr's conversion made it 17-0, and CBC's Junior Cup hopes seemed dashed going into the final stages.

Having trailed for much of the game, two late tries from a very determined CBC brought them back into contention going into the final moments, setting up a nail-biting finish. Tries from captain Darren Bowles and flanker Jack Daly bolstered the CBC side, and despite their best efforts in the dying minutes, CBC were unable to reduce the deficit any further.

ST MUNCHIN'S COLLEGE: K McCarthy; P Curtis, D Crawford, G Quinlivan, B Drew; E Carr, B Mullins; C O'Shea, A Connolly, J McGovern, R O'Donnell, G Ryan, E Hogan, K McManus, C Tsang. Replacements: Cox for McCarthy (10 mins), I Wallace for Tsang (35 mins), C Moloney for Quinlivan, S Madden for Cox (both 50 mins)

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS COLLEGE: S O'Sullivan; D Byrne, S Hambidge, D Bowles (capt), T Harrington; G Higgins, C Buckley; P O'Callaghan, D O'Driscoll, C Gallagher, J Vaughan, D Mullins, B Desmond, J Daly, M O'Mahony. Replacements: P McCabe for O'Driscoll, R McCarthy for Buckley, C Quinn for Higgins, D Daly for O'Sullivan.