The Leinster Schools, Section A Senior Cup first round produced few surprises and a lot of one-sided encounters throughout the province yesterday.
Mount Temple had matters all their own way in their 28-0 dismissal of Scoil Eoin, Athy at Newbridge. Two penalties by Ross Maybury, preceded by an opening try from Cian Scott-Keogh, gave the Dublin school an 11-0 advantage at half-time. Andy Coggin crossed the line early in the second half for their second try, which was converted by Maybury.
The Scoil Eoin challenge disintegrated and despite good displays from Canice Curtis, Peter Carbery and Barry Cardiff, they conceded further tries to Maybury and Darragh Ffrench before the end.
The glory days of 1983 and 1985 must seem a long way off for De La Salle, Churchtown. This season they have dropped to the weaker section of the competition. At Arklow yesterday, they were never troubled by New Ross VS, running in eight tries.
Wilson's Hospital's finishing power was too much for Wexford CBS in their 18-9 win at the Oak Park Grounds in Carlow. Although they held an advantage in terms of footballing ability they made too many handling errors and came up against determined opponents who had an outstanding outhalf in Barry Walsh.
Walsh's three first-half penalties kept his side in touch while Wilson's recorded tries from their outhalf Colm Finlay, who also kicked a penalty, and full-back Keith Newton. The only remaining score of the game was a Wilson's try midway through the second half from scrumhalf Gonazague de Vitton.
Newcomers St Finian's of Mullingar were given a harsh lesson in the reality of cup rugby during a 63-13 thrashing by Skerries CC at Ashbourne. With height and weight on their side, a Skerries win was never in doubt. The tries flowed mainly from the back row with openside James Sherlock and number eight David Lee scoring two each. Captain Conal Keane, a brother of international Killian Keane, kicked all nine conversions, from some difficult angles.
St Patrick's, Navan, with a winning score of 31-7 over Moyle Park at King's Hospital, were helped by a three-try blast from full-back Alan McCormack (two) and left-wing David Geraghty in the 10th, 13th and 16th minutes, respectively.
The losers were playing their first and last game of rugby this season. Even though Geraghty had his second try in the 48th minute for a 24-0 lead, Moyle Park never lost their discipline and their reward came from Christopher O'Sullivan's 68th-minute try.
Although Christopher Hayden added the points, their obvious delight was instantly diluted as St Patrick's emphasised their superiority with their fifth touchdown from replacement Lorcan Kirwan.
Neal Smyth showed his repertoire of skills in a 20-point haul that included two tries, two penalties and two conversions to lead St David's to a comfortable 30-15 win over St Mary's, Drogheda at ALSAA.
Moyne Community School barely broke sweat in their 35-0 whitewash of Presentation College, Glasthule at North Kildare. The Longford side dominated the match, leading 11-0 at half time, before stepping up a gear in the second half to notch five tries in all from Derek Bannon, Dermot McGlade, Karl Muldowney, Niall Boucher and Seβn Diffley.
Two first-half tries from St Conleth's College wing Micheal Hennigan nursed his side to a 30-5 victory over Dundalk Grammar School at Mount Temple. A quick tap penalty inside the Dundalk 22 saw Paul Ainscough release Hennigan for his first in the corner. An up-and-under then allowed Hennigan to steal in for a try with full-back Shane O'Connell converting to leave it 17-5 at the interval.
O'Connell added a penalty after the break before outhalf John Doherty and prop Scott Hynes completed the rout with a try each.
De la Salle, Dundalk scored 10 tries as they overcame the challenge of St Oliver's, Drogheda 58-8 in a one-sided tie at Ardee yesterday. Seven of the winners' tries came in the opening half at the end of which they led 43-3.
The ability to put away their try-scoring opportunities helped Sandford Park to an impressive 27-3 victory over Enniscorthy VC at Gorey.
First-half tries from Fergus Hayes, Kevin O'Dwyer and Justin Harvey helped them to a 15-3 interval lead. The winners went on to add further tries through Conor Power and Harvey to fashion a comprehensive victory.
Scrumhalf Joe Manual chipped in with a remarkable 22 points as Kilkenny CBS saw off a committed New Ross CBS side 27-3 at Enniscorthy.
Having led 8-3 at the interval through a try and penalty from Manual, to a solitary penalty from Tommy Lee, the Kilkenny scrum-half went on to add two further second-half tries and two conversions as his side dominated. Their other try came from Patrick Dore.
A stoppage-time try from centre John Fitzsimons gave Portmarnock a heart-stopping 16-11 win at the end of a close contested with Tullamore CC at Navan.
First-time competitors Bridgetown VC found out just how difficulty the transition to cup rugby is after their 42-0 drubbing by St Columba's at Gorey.
Having led 25-0 at half-time, the St Columba's dominance continued through the second half.
Left winger Daniel Manning was his sides leading player as he chipped in with 17 points which included two tries, two conversions and a penalty. Their remaining tries came from Alastair Musgrave (two), James Wheeler, Heric Gervais, Philip Black and two from Alastair Musgrave.
