A fifth Leinster Senior Cup final success for Terenure College, achieved in emphatic fashion, and hallmarked by passages of excellent continuity that yielded four tries. They won't care that Clontarf barely mustered a challenge worthy of the name, hopelessly outplayed and shackled by their ineptitude.
Terenure dominated from the start, enjoying a pronounced edge in the scrums and able to trundle round the side of rucks and mauls, making great inroads. Flanker Peter O'Malley and number eight Cormac Long proved very effective, while the third member of the back row, Luke Hammond, thrived.
The front five contributed handsomely, and behind the scrum the halfbacks, Donal Mahony and Shane Cullen - the latter managed 23 points - controlled the game with aplomb, albeit under minimum pressure. Mark O'Kelly was the pick of the three-quarter line, threading his way through the Clontarf cover on several occasions.
Clontarf were remarkably disjointed, porous around the fringes of ruck and maul and a liability to themselves in possession, whether throwing in at the lineout or trying to usher the ball through the hands. Scrumhalf Ronan O'Reilly threw some wayward passes but was their most accomplished player, while flanker Declan Quinn and replacement David Moore could not be faulted for their honesty.
Terenure led 18-0 at the interval with tries from James Blaney and Rory Sheriff, Cullen kicking two penalties and a conversion. They had extended that advantage to 28-0 by the 54th minute with a try from O'Malley and a penalty and conversion from Cullen.
O'Reilly's try, converted by Richie Murphy, took the bare look off the scoreboard from a Clontarf perspective.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 7 mins: Cullen penalty, 3-0; 18: Cullen penalty, 6-0; 22: J Blaney try, Cullen conversion, 13-0; 25: Sheriff try, 18-0. 48: O'Malley try, Cullen conv ersion, 25-0; 54: Cullen penalty, 28-0; 58: O'Reilly try, Murphy conversion, 28-7; 69: Cullen try, Cullen conversion, 35-7; 75: Cullen penalty, 38-7.
TERENURE: R Governey; D Coleman, M O'Kelly, M Smyth, J Tracey; S Cullen, D Mahony; S Barretto, J Blaney, J Campbell; R Sheriff (capt), D Quinn; P O'Malley, C Long, L Hammond.E
Replacements: M Dowling for D Coleman (43 mins); C Egan for J Blaney (48 mins); D Blaney for Long (54 mins); K Putt for Mahony (64 mins); A Kelly for Hammond (70 mins); K Coleman for Barretto (73 mins).
CLONTARF: K Nowlan; R Nowlan, A Reddan, D O'Brien, O Winchester; R Murphy, R O'Reilly; A Clarke, T Kearns, P McQuillan; D Sheehan, K Keane; D Quinn, B Baggot (capt), S McEntee. Replacements: P Lynn for McEntee (h-t); T Foucher for Clarke (48 mins); D Moore for Keane (54 mins); P Noble for Murphy (69 mins).
Referee: D Keane (IRFU).
