Terenure College 5 St Michael's College 3:DEFEAT IN three Junior Cup finals in a row will rankle in St Michael's College, but looking at the big picture the Holy Ghost rugby nursery have never been so consistent in producing respectable teams since making the Senior Cup breakthrough in 2007.
For Terenure, this marks a ninth Junior title in their history and partially eases the pangs of losing to Blackrock in last week’s senior final.
When all is said and done, and there were plenty of subplots, Stephen O’Neill’s expertly finished try in first-half injury time proved too steep an incline for St Michael’s to climb. The Terenure defence, starting from an industrious pack out, hardly made life easy for them.
St Michael’s were not supposed to make it this far anyway. They were widely expected to give the competition’s overwhelming favourites Clongowes Wood College a decent contest in the quarter-finals before slipping quietly out the back door. Instead, they produced a massively surprising 15-14 victory and confidence duly blossomed in these under-15 aspiring rugby players, with St Mary’s ruthlessly dismissed 30-0 in the semi-final.
So, they arrived at this juncture untouched by the fear that usually grips teenagers when placed under the microscope in televised events. The only problem was Terenure were not supposed to be here either. Blackrock had them pinned to the canvass in their semi-final only for a remarkable Philip Smith try, thanks to huge yardage by all-action flanker Harrison Brewer, at the death.
For many of the opening skirmishes yesterday St Michael’s dominated possession and territory with strong running centre Rory O’Loughlin almost battering over for a try. Terenure seemed hell-bent on hurting their own cause by running from deep into a well structured defence with winger Andrew Donohoe breaking the line on one occasion, only for fullback Cameron Diamond to make the essential tackle.
Outhalf Danny McCormack finally spotted space in behind and brought matters into the St Michael’s 22. Several phases later, off an attacking scrum, captain Niall Lalor threw a skip pass to O’Neill, who hit the line at a diagonal angle, at pace, to burn the cover. McCormack’s touchline conversion was wide.
St Michael’s desperately needed a foundation score and 13 minutes of the second-half had slipped away when it finally came. Centre Chris Fagen’s dancing feet made headway up the middle, allowing scrumhalf and captain Bobby Holland to slot the resulting penalty from just outside the 22. By this stage they had lost their impressive fly-half Rory Kavanagh to a leg injury. Terenure were also unfortunate to see number eight Matt Hayes depart after just 10 minutes.
Ross Byrne proved an able replacement for Kavanagh and his boot put the chasing pack deep in enemy territory entering the final minutes.
Fagen and openside Dan Leavy continued to carry ball effectively while big Terenure lock Adam Somerville produced some heroic lineout takes in the home stretch.
Unfortunately, an entertaining match ended on a sour note. In injury time, with St Michael’s poised for an attacking scrum, intervention from touch judge Arthur Lynch saw referee Brian Montayne caution secondrow Ollie Moyles and give Terenure a relieving penalty.
With no lifting in the lineouts at this grade, possession is somewhat unreliable and despite being deep in their own 22, Terenure ran the ball, much like Munster in last season European Cup final, except they were unable to retain it.
St Michael’s won a scrum and it eventually fell on Byrne’s shoulders to strike a drop at goal, which was adjudged to drift agonisingly wide.
For those who want a closer look at this hectic end game, Setanta Sports are broadcasting the match tonight at 6.30pm.
Scoring sequence – 30 mins: S O’Neill try, 5-0. Half-time. 43 mins: B Holland pen, 5-3.
TERENURE COLLEGE: J Wright; P Smith, S O’Neill, C Jones, A Donohoe; D McCormack, G Clarkin; D Hynes, S Purcell, C Owens; A Somerville, R Somerville; H Brewer, N Lalor (capt), M Hayes. Replacements: J Kirwan for M Hayes (10 mins), A Trimble for C Jones (46 mins), S Borza for S Purcell (64 mins).
ST MICHAEL’S COLLEGE: C Diamond; C Kelleher, C Fagen, R O’Loughlin, E Williams; R Kavanagh, B Holland (capt); J Barry, G Kelly, H Murray; O Moyles, S Harold; J Parsons, D Leavy, R Lynch. Replacements: A Coleman for J Parsons, R Byrne for R Kavanagh (both 40 minutes).
Referee: B Montayne (ARLB).
Senior champions Blackrock College have eight players in the Leinster Schools Cup selection, who all receive a hoodie from the Jack Wills clothing line. Terenure have three representatives, while Belvedere and Clongowes Wood have two.
THE TEAM: Andrew Conway (Blackrock College), Gerard Mullen (Clongowes Wood College), Brendan Macken (Blackrock College), Ross Williamson (Terenure College), Calum Rowden (Blackrock College), James Thornton (Terenure College), Hugo Nolan (Belvedere Comp), Chris O’Brien (Belvedere Comp), Patrick Kilcoyne (Blackrock College), Arthur Lyons (Blackrock College), Cathal Deans (Terenure College), Jordi Murphy (Blackrock College), Robert Timlin (Clongowes Wood College), Richard Liddy (Blackrock College), Conor Barry (Blackrock College).
