Castletroy Deny Crescent The Double

Underdogs Castletroy College caused a major upset at Dooradoyle when they won the Munster Schools Junior Cup for the second time with a deserved victory in front of a very large attendance and thus denied Crescent their first double following their Seniors victory on Monday.

Castletroy College 13, Crescent College Comprehensive 7;
There is no denying Castletroy their triumph in this competition as they have seen off the two fancied sides Ardscoil Ris and Crescent to lift this trophy presented by Castletroy in memory of one of their teachers Eamonn Mulcahy.

It was a magnificent performance from the Castletroy pack that laid the foundation for this victory as they totally out gunned their opponents with Eoin Hourigan putting in a superb performance and he was well assisted by David Rowsome, skipper Niall O’Shea and Mark O’Mara with scrum half Conor Fleming marshalling things behind the pack.

Crescent to their credit despite playing their second game in four days never gave up and came very close to snatching victory in injury time but heroic defending by Castletroy kept them out.

Castletroy played with the advantage of the wind in the opening half and were finding it hard to get a foot hold in Crescent territory as Glen Dickinson, Billy O’Hora and Calvin Nash were posing several problems with some exciting runs.

Cian Clifford had an opportunity of opening the scoring with a penalty for Crescent after thirteen minutes but his effort was well off target.

Castletroy eventually worked the ball up field and opted for touch from possible kickable chances. With Hourigan beginning to dominate the line out, Castletroy were mauling the ball with great affect. This tactic paid off on twenty two minutes when they got over the line and Darragh O’Neill was credited with the touchdown. Fleming’s conversion attempt was well wide of the posts.

At the start of the second half Castletroy got a great boost when great work by their pack saw them go over the line again and Niall O’Shea was the player credited with their second try for a 10-0 lead after just three minutes.

Crescent then lost their out half Cian Clifford through injury and with the Castletroy pack in full control it looked like Castletroy would romp home.

This Crescent side are great battlers as they proved throughout the competition. Dickinson was proving an inspiration with some excellent fielding and counter attacking. O’Hora and Nash were proving hard to stop as they went on several breaks, but some big tackles kept them out.

Constant pressure in the Castletroy half eventually paid off. Castletroy’s Captain Niall O’Shea was yellow carded and in the second minute of injury time Anson Thai got in for a Crescent try and Conor McSweeney converted.

From the restart it was Crescent’s Captain Calvin Nash who was yellow carded and Fleming converted the resulting penalty for a 13-7 lead.

Back came Crescent and they tried everything to get a second try but last ditch tackling prevented them from scoring and the final whistle was greeted with great delight by the Castletroy players and supporters.

Castletroy College: Oisin Kelly; Shane Hogan, Ronan McDonnell, Colum Carroll, Sean McBrearty; Jamie Heuston, Conor Fleming; Joey Conway, Mark O'Mara, Conor Myers; Evan Slattery, Eoin Hourigan; Darragh O’Neill, Niall O'Shea (capt), David Rowsome. Replacements: Alan McDonogh, Cathal Lee, David Kennedy, Kevin Davern, Sean English, Luca Ridder, Patrick Tuite, Eoghan Carew.

Crescent College Comprehensive: Glen Dickinson; Conor McSweeney, Billy O’Hora, Calvin Nash (capt), Jordan Young O’Connor; Cian Clifford, Jack Lyons; Anson Thai, Jason Barry, Sean Scanlon Garry; Brian Considine, John Blake; Conor Slattery, Peter Hickey, Niall Mulcahy. Replacements: Brian Ryan, Sean Downes, Ed Barry, Luke O’Connell, Joe Barry, Andrew Reeves, Killian Murphy, Bailey Faloon.
Referee: Olly Hodges (MAR).