PBC Progress To Final Of Pinergy Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup

PBC will meet CBC in the final of this year’s Pinergy Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup in what will be a repeat of last year’s final after the Cork school ran out dominant 45-12 winners over St Munchin’s College at Virgin Media Park.

PBC got the opening try of the game in the first few minutes when the ball was spread wide to John Wigginton Barrett who used his power and pace to score. Gene O’Leary Kareem converted to give Pres an early 7-0 lead.

To St Munchin’s credit, they hit back almost immediately when a powerful maul effort saw hooker Adam O’Shaughnessy cross for his side’s opening try of the game. Tom Wood’s conversion attempt drifted to the right of the posts to leave two points between the sides.

PBC almost got their second try when O’Leary Kareem evaded a number of tacklers before offloading to Liam Tuohy but the scrum-half knocked the ball forward in contact.

O’Leary Kareem wouldn’t be denied on his next opportunity as Pres brought play inches from the Munchin’s line and the outside centre ran a great line to collect a pass and crash over. Murphy notched the conversion to give PBC a 14-5 lead.

O’Leary Kareem then added a second try for himself moments later when running a hard line off a 5m tap and go. The centre added a third conversion to give his side a 21-5 lead.

From the kick-off, PBC put more daylight between themselves and their opponents when Neville O’Leary collected the kick off to race clear and score in the corner. The touchline conversion drifted wide as PBC’s lead stretched out to 26-5.

O’Leary Kareem continued to dominate the contest when he made a break before being tap-tackled, the centre managed to get a superb offload away as he was falling to the ground which led to Alexander Alderson running in for another try. O’Leary Kareem converted to give his side a 33-5 lead at half-time.

St Munchin’s needed to get the first try of the second half to mount a comeback similar to their efforts in last season’s semi-final but it went the was of PBC when Neville O’Leary showed his pace to notch a second try for himself.

A scuffle between both sets of players saw one yellow card dished out to each team before PBC’s Oscar Squires received a yellow card himself for a tackle off the ball. With the numerical advantage, the Limerick school got their second try through captain Oisin Minogue which was converted by Wood.

The Limerick school couldn’t get themselves another try, instead it was PBC who capitalised on a block down which saw Mark Hetherington score under the posts. O’Leary Kareem notched the conversion to give his side a 45-12 win and progression to the final where they will meet city rivals CBC.

The final of the Pinergy Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup will take place on Tuesday, March 12th at Virgin Media Park at 2pm.

PBC: Deckie Fitzgerald; Neville O’Leary, Gene O’Leary Kareem (c), James O’Leary, John Wigginton Barrett; Harry Murphy, Liam Tuohy; Maurice Minogue, Padraig Doyle, William Cronin; Daniel Foley, Denis Murphy; Oscar Squires, Cormac Bohan, Alexander Alderson.

Replacements: Rio McLoughlin Barry, Fionn O’Sullivan, Diarmuid Sheehy, George O’Keeffe, Charlie Donnelly, Frankie Óg Sheahan, Mark Hetherington, Luke Sisk O’Mahony, Rickey Barrett, Evan O’Dowd.

St Munchin’s: Matthew Te Pou; Ben O’Mahony, Adam Cusack, Danny Williamson, Gearoid O’Brien; Tom Wood, Rory McDermott; Peter Dougan, Adam O’Shaughnessy, Oskars Vitolins; Anthony Foley, Callum Black, Tommy O’Driscoll, Charlie Grace, Oisin Minogue (c).

Replacements: David Geoghegan, Eoin O’Callaghan, Donnacha Colgan, Darragh Fogarty, Billy Power, Jarrod Arenhold, Adam McGlynn, Alex Quinn, Cathal Glynn, Brendan Minogue.