Ardscoil Defeat St Munchin’s In Senior Cup Play-Off

Ardscoil advanced to the Munster Schools Senior Cup quarter-finals following a 10-5 defeat of Limerick rivals St Munchin’s at UL.

Munchin’s looked on top in the early exchanges, piling pressure on Ardscoil with a series of dominant mauls.

The penalties started to add up for the defending side and after 20 minutes Munchins eventually broke the deadlock.

An accurate set-piece allowed for a solid platform, the maul motored towards the line and in the end flanker Jake Murphy crashed over for the score. The try was left unconverted, leaving the score-line at 5-0 for much of the half.

However, just before the break, Ardscoil Ris struck back.

Out-half Darragh O’Gorman found touch inside the Munchin’s half and some impressive, varied forwards play helped the North Circular Road school work their way into the danger zone.

From there, their clinical nature showed as star man O’Gorman took the ball once more and dashed over to tie up the scores at 5-5, before adding the extra to his own try.

The second-half was played at a slower pace as Ardscoil looked to keep control of the contest.

A lapse in concentration from Munchin’s saw them concede a penalty on 50 minutes and Ardscoil out-half, Darragh O’Gorman, made them pay as his long-range effort split the posts.

For Munchin’s, the final quarter of an hour shared similarities with their first round tie with Bandon as they huffed and puffed by their opponent’s try line without turning pressure into points.

Wave after wave, Munchin’s threw their all at Ardscoil in search of that elusive second try but were ultimately denied a place in the quarters by committed defending and a couple of spectacular clearance kicks from the confident O’Gorman.

St. Munchin’s: Zack Moloney; Cathal Quilter, Luke Kelly, Jude Marlo Pendejito, Tyrone O’Halloran; Gary Quilligan, Evan Maher; Craig Finn, Keith Hyland, Evan Sheehan O’Donnell; Alex Casey, Mark Crowe; Conor Nesbitt, Jake Murphy, Shane Kelly.

Replacements: Evan Kelly, Jack Kingston, Shane Ryan, Aaron Deegan, Andrew Tierney, Jamie Ryan, Kristan Lugod, David Woods.

Ard Scoil Rís: Cian O’Reilly; Cian Murphy, Killian Dineen, Glen Clancy, Liam O’Shanahan; Darragh O’Gorman, Ian Leonard; Matthew Gaule, Rhys Tucker, Ferdia Lyons; Brian Noonan, Will O’Callaghan; Michael O’Callaghan, Sean Hanley, Daniel O’Keeffe.

Replacements: Stephen Clery, Oskar Czyszczon, Jack Hardaker, Enda Roche, Jack Ward Murphy, John Taylor, James Hourigan, David O’Byrne.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (MAR).