Fitzgerald Saves Ardscoil Aris

Conor Fitzgerald was the hero once again for Ardscoil Rãs as he kicked a last minute penalty to send the Limerick school into another SEAT Schools Senior Cup final.

PBC 11-13 Ardscoil Rís

By Rory Holohan

Having also defeated CBC in the previous round with the last kick of play, Fitzgerald was calmness personified in holding his nerve once again.

His place kicking was a feature early on in the first half as ASR came straight out of the blocks into attack.

There was a high tempo to the Limerick side’s pressure as they were camped inside the PBC twenty-two metre line in the opening ten minutes. The pressure told in Pres’ indiscipline in the ruck as penalties were successively awarded.

The first effort of Fitzgerald was uncharacteristically misplaced, though he did follow up five minutes later with the first score of the game.

This score came as prop Tom Walsh received lengthy treatment for a shoulder injury, eventually requiring assistance from the ambulance crew.

PBC replied to the early pressure with an attack that largely came against the run of play. Peter Sylvester blocked down his opposite number’s clearance resulting in ASR’s Marcus McManemy having to be quick to ground the errant ball before Robin Reidy could register a try.

The next phase in play came courtesy of Ardscoil’s Peadar Collins leaping highest to claim Fitzgerald’s garryowen and start an attack with Jack O’Donnell and Nathan Randles in tow. This catch was ultimately the turnover in possession that lead to Oisín Bernard’s try. Ian Brown made the line break and Bernard was in support to receive his superb offload and run in under the posts. Fitzgerald obliged with the easiest of kicks.

Pres hopes of getting their own points on the board were hampered by handling errors or ruck infringements. This was apparent in Kevin O’Leary being denied an imminent try as his fellow forwards held the ball up on the ASR try-line but were unfortunately penalised and the chance was gone.

The half concluded with PBC’s Billy Pope coming close to a morale boosting score. A John Poland box-kick made its way over the try-line and Pope was unfortunate to lose out to McManemy in the foot race. The advantage had been for Pres in this attack and so Poland (below) then succeeded with his penalty effort from the ASR twenty-two metre line.

The second half began as the first ended with Pres looking for the try that would get them back into the game. A combination of forward passes and an impenetrable defence of Barra O’Byrne and Ronan Coffey were the cause of their failure to score however.

O’Byrne was also to deny Joe Ring a try as a phase of PBC attack led by Conor Duggan’s searing line break culminated in another chip over the top that the chaser could not claim.

The frustration of the Cork side was further heightened as the referee adjudged Poland to have knocked on as he crossed the whitewash.

The try finally came through the arduous work put in by Sylvester. He took off on another dash that required three tacklers to stop and so space opened up for the supporting Shane Daly to claim his offload and score (below). Poland was off target with a conversion attempt that dropped away to the left of the near post.

Another lengthy break in play came as Daragh Dennehy clashed mid-air with his fellow ASR jumper Jerry McCabe, his opponent coming off much worse and the ambulance crew were required once again.

The Mardyke side were in the lead for the first time as the momentum swung their way through Poland’s penalty landing from in front of the posts.

The second half was not totally dominated by PBC though as Brown threatened a break away try with Darren Gavin’s clearance clearing the high line held by Pres and Pope was required to out muscle the Ardscoil flanker to the ball as he would have had an unguarded try line to cross otherwise.

The most slender of leads hung in the balance as Pres looked for the match winning score through Graham Smith and Sylvester’s work at the breakdown but ASR slowly advanced up the pitch through the great rucking of their own Coffey.

The final play was Fitzgerald’s penalty which he showed great composure to slot over from the Pres ten metre line. The final whistle greeted Fitzgerald’s effort as Ardscoil progress to their second final in successive years.

Conor Fitzgerald celebrates after kicking the winning penalty before getting mobbed by Ardscoil fans

PBC: [15-9] Daragh Dennehy, Billy Pope, Shane Daly, Robin Reidy, Conor Duggan, Peter Sylvester, John
Poland (Capt)
[1-8] Joe Ring, Emmet McCarthy, Sam Deane, Caolan O’ Flynn, Brian O’ Mahony, Kevin O’ Leary, Graham Smith, Jack O’ Sullivan

Subs: Daire Mc Donagh, Conor Ormonde, Michael Shinkwin, Gearoid O’Mahony, Paul Crowley, Jack O’ Shea, David O’Sullivan, Colin O’Neill, Patrick Hogan, Cian Scott.

ASR: [15-9] Darren Gavin, Nathan Randles, Jack O’ Donnell, Peadar Collins, Marcus Mc Manemy, Conor Fitzgerald, Hugh Bourke
[1-8] Pierce Lyons, Ty Chan (Capt), Tom Walsh, Barra O’ Byrne, Ronan Coffey, Oisín Bernard, Ian Brown, Jerry Mc Cabe.
Subs: Andy Coffey, Jack Sexton, Darragh Ryan, Luke Moylan, Diarmuid Scannell, Evan Cusack, Liam Brock, Pa Ryan, Stephen Monaghan, Conor Cannon.