Sensational Wins For Crescent & Castletroy

Crescent booked their place in next Monday’s Munster Schools Cup Final at Thomond Park kick off 2pm against defending champions Rockwell after a dramatic try in injury time. At Dooradoyle Castletroy College defeated a fancied Ardscoil Ris side in the first semi final of the Munster Schools Junior Cup.

C.B.C. 6, Crescent College Comprehensive 7

Christians dream of a grand slam of Munster School trophies came unstuck at Musgrave Park, when they lost their Senior Cup semi final replay in a dramatic finish.

In what was a very poor contest that really only came to life in the last fifteen minutes, twelve of them being added time, Crescent for the first time in the game put pressure on the Christians defence with the Limerick side’s scrum half Gary Fitzgerald dictating matters.

Several drives by Crescent were halted by a determined Christians defence as they edged their way to the line. A knock on by Crescent saw a scrum being awarded to the Cork side but dissent saw this turn into a penalty and many felt that was it as Christians cleared their lines.

Play moved up to the half way line where Crescent regained possession and when the ball reached Greg O’Shea, the Crescent winger took off and waltzed his way around several tackles and just made it to the line five meters from the touch line. Up stepped Gearoid Lyons who was off target with two earlier penalty attempts and a delightful kick bisected the posts and Crescent were through to the final and a meeting with Rockwell.

Crescent played with the advantage of a very strong wind in the opening half and failed to put points on the board. Lyons missed an easy kick at goal after five minutes.

Christians lost their hooker Devin Fitzgerald after a minute and he was replaced by Vincent O’Brien. Despite the cold conditions Christians handling was excellent and Adam McCarthy and skipper Rory Burke were in the thick of the action as the Cork side repelled and Crescent attack.

The Christians pack was on top and were driving Crescent back at every opportunity. One maul that started just inside the Christians half was only halted five meters from the line.

Two minutes into the second half Christians took the lead when Thomas Quinlan converted a penalty from the 22.

Despite playing against the elements Jack Dinneen and JJ O’Neill made some surging runs out of defence for Crescent and Lyons was off target with a second penalty attempt on forty five minutes.

Thirteen minutes from time Quinlan kicked his second penalty to make it 6-0 to the Cork side.

Crescent began to play open rugby and O’Shea was stopped short of the line as the Limerick side went in search of a winning try.

Quinlan relieved the pressure for the Cork side with some excellent kicking and it looked like that Christians would hold out for another Cup final appearance until O’Shea’s last gasp winner.

C.B.C.: Chris McAuliffe; Rory Slater, Michael Clune, Joe Dowling, Shane McAuliffe; Tomas Quinlan Ryan Foley; Liam O'Connor, Devin Fitzgerald, Rory Burke; Sean Gill, Darragh Moloney; Alex Penney, Tadgh Arrigan, Adam McCarthy. Replacements: Vincent O'Brien, Shane Galvin, Greg Roche, Evan Mintern, Gale Kalenga, Jason Higgins, Mickey Fielding, Olan Hanly.

Crescent College Comprehensive: James Frawley; Jason O’Sullivan, JJ O’Neill, William Leonard, Greg O’Shea; Gearoid Lyons (capt), Gary Fitzgerald; Sean McGee, James Green, Liam McMahon; Jonathon Keane, Robert Scott; Diarmuid Dee, Jay Kavanagh, Jack Dinneen. Replacements: Cillian Rea, Gerard Mullins, Michael O’Donnell, Eoin Casserly, Cormac Blake, Edmond Barry, Joseph Purcell, Jack Leonard.

Referee: Eddie Hogan-O’Connell (M.A.R.)

Ardscoil Ris 3, Castletroy College 7

Castletroy booked their place in the final of the Munster Schools Junior Cup at Dooradoyle with a surprising win over a fancied Ardscoil Ris side.

A try by wing forward Darragh O’Neill converted by Conor Fleming gave Castletroy the lead mid way through the opening half.

Conor Fitzgerald kicked a penalty for Ardscoil to leave the score 7-3 to Castletroy at half time.

Both sides failed to add to their total as Castletroy held out for a memorable win.

Ard Scoil Ris: Darren Gavin; Michael Fitzgibbon, Peadar Collins, Jack O'Donnell, Nathan Randles;; Conor Fitzgerald, Jamie Moore; Pierce Lyons, Ty Chan, Jack O Shea; Conor Canon, Ronan Coffey; Oisin Bernard, Jack Sexton, Jerry McCabe (Capt). Replacements: Luke Moylan, Tyler Richardson, Robert Leonard, Ian Brown, Gareth Hobbs, Eoin Ryan, James Brennan, Marcus McManemy.

Castletroy College: Oisin Kelly; Shane Hogan, Ronan McDonnell, Colum Carroll, Sean McBrearty; Jamie Heuston, Conor Fleming; Joseph 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, Luca Ridder, Patrick Tuite, Eoghan Carew, Shane Mullins.

Referee: Will O’Connor (M.A.R.)