Christians Deny PBC 2017 Final Double

Christian Brothers College booked yet another Clayton Hotels Munster Schools Junior Cup final place, with a 15-0 defeat over Leeside rivals Presentation Brothers College at Irish Independent Park in their semi-final replay.

A tight first-half saw the one score, as CBC broke the deadlock with Mark Buckley touching down, the game was reasonably evenly matched throughout, but Christians’ – or more specifically Aaron Leahy’s – deadly finishing got the job done with a brace in the second-half.

After last week’s free-flowing first-half, this time around the sides adopted a more cagey approach to the game, choosing substance over style in opting to kick for the corners.

That saw little in the way of clear scoring opportunities for either side, despite some clever kicking occasionally putting both of these old rivals under pressure.

However, it would be the Northsiders who would open the scoring 25 minutes into the encounter, as James Moylan – coming in just before the game’s opening to replace Mark O’Connor – sent in Buckley to leap over the line in the corner.

Cian Whooley couldn’t convert from a difficult position, however, and Moylan summed up the first-half by being content in kicking the ball out of play once the clock had struck the 30-minute mark, leaving Christians with a five point advantage heading into the break.

It was the afternoon’s ‘hosts’ who would have the next chance to get points on the board; 37 minutes in and a penalty from 43 minutes missed just right by Cian Whooley, the scores remaining at 5-0.

Less than 20 minutes left in the contest and Christians crossed the line for the second time, Leahy the man to touch down, but it was Buckley again critical, with a beautifully timed floated pass before taking contact to set sub O’Connor to play in the pacey winger.

Again, however, Whooley couldn’t stretch that advantage out further with the boot, as Christians went into the final quarter-hour with a 15 point lead.

After such a tight first game, CBC knew they would need a third score to prevent their city rivals from reaching the final stage at both grades this year, but more excellent hands from Christians saw Leahy again spot a gap in the corner, his pace proving too much for the Pres defence as he crossed to make it 15-0 with 10 minutes to go.

Pres could have gotten one back in the 51^st minute, as Alex Walsh’s chip saw Jack Kelleher get to the ball, but with the line baying he just couldn’t hold onto a difficult bounce, then Max O’Leary touched down, but his foot had already crossed the touchline.

So after more than 120 minutes of rugby eventually it’s Christians who held their nerve to book their place, they face holders Crescent College Comprehensive in the final, with a date and time to be announced in the near future.

Christian Brothers College: George Coomber; Mark Buckley, Harry O’Riordan, Leo Daly, Aaron Leahy; Cian Whooley, James Moylan; Alex O’Gregan, Sean Rall, Mark Donnelly, Robbie Kelleher, Mark McCarthy, Finn MacFhlannchadha, Ronan O’Sullivan, Conor Lavin.

Replacements: Robert Horgan, David Shanahan, Brian O’Donnell, Patrick McBarron, Bobby Khan, Andrew Cremin, Mark O’Connor, Jack Ryan, Robbie Shalloe, Patrick O’Hara.

Presentation Brothers College: Darragh French; Conor Morey, Michael Hand, Darragh O’Sullivan, Jeff Holden; Alex Walsh, Joe O’Leary; Darragh McSweeney, Billy Kingston, Chris Morris, David O’Halloran, Jack Kelleher, Max O’Leary, Richie Foley, Alex Kendellen.

Replacements: Dylan Devlin, Michael Hayes, Michael Giltinan, Tim Buckley, John Forde, James Keohane, Daniel Hurley, Colin Doyle, Tom Gough, Tadhg O’Sullivan.