St Munchin’s & Crescent Reach Schools Senior Cup Semi-Finals

8th February 2024 By The Editor

St Munchin's College's Anthony Foley celebrates scoring a try with teammates ©INPHO

It was a busy day in the Pinergy Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup as St Munchin’s College and Crescent College Comprehensive booked their place in the semi-finals.

St Munchin’s College 34-17 Bandon Grammar School

First up it was the meeting of St Munchin’s College and Bandon Grammar School at the 4G pitch in UL where the Limerick school ran out 34-17 winners.

St Munchin’s took the lead after 10 minutes when Adam Cusack blocked down a Bandon clearing kick. The ball bobbled over the Bandon try line and Cusack won the foot race to dot down for the game’s opening try. Wood was unsuccessful with his conversion attempt.

Wood extended his side’s lead to 8-0 when he notched a penalty 10 minutes from the interval.

Some quick thinking led to St Munchin’s next try when Bandon cleared their lines for a lineout on the Munchin’s 22m line but Matt Te Pou signalled for the ball to be taken quickly. Wood fed the ball to Te Pou who straightened and gave it back to Wood.

The out-half then showed great footwork and acceleration down the touchline to bring play into the Bandon half before he offloaded to the supporting Te Pou who crossed in the corner. Wood’s touchline conversion came back off the post as Munchin’s took a 13-0 lead.

The West Cork school did get three points on the board through a penalty from Rory Golden with the score 13-3 at half-time.

Bandon took the game to St Munchin’s in the opening period of the second half and they were rewarded for their efforts when Fionn O’Neill crossed for his side’s first try when space opened up after some carries close to the St Munchin’s line. Golden landed the conversion to reduce the deficit to just three points.

St Munchin’s Tony Foley then scored his side’s third try when he spotted a gap next to a ruck and he powered through to restore his side’s 10-point lead after Wood converted.

Bandon tried to get back into the game but Oisin Minogue got his side’s fourth try which Wood converted to stretch out the lead to 27-10.

Bandon’s O’Neill then got his side back into the game when he blocked a kick before crossing for his second try which Golden converted to leave the score 27-17.

With time up, Munchin’s notched another try and it was Minogue again who crossed in the corner with Wood landing an excellent touchline conversion to give his side a 34-17 win and they will now meet PBC in the semi-finals.

St Munchin’s: Matthew Te Pou; Alex Quinn, 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, Azad Mohamad, Cathal Glynn, Brendan Minogue.

Bandon Grammar School: Rory Golden; Adam Hutchinson, Calem Harte, Niall Miskella, Michael Kennedy; Senan Aherne, Zack Canniffe; Marcus Kelly, Zach Piper, Karl O’Regan, Fionn O’Neill, Rory O’Callaghan, Aodhan Brennan, Max McQuiston, Conor Mueller.

Replacements: Cian Ring, Arinze Akabogu, Antony Cleary Zurek, Cash Healy, Maximillian Tubb, Scott Fuller, Alex Hurley, Robert Kingston, Robert Collins, Edward Baker.

Crescent College Comprehensive 32 – 22 Rockwell College

Crescent College Comprehensive advanced to the semi-finals of the Pinergy Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup after overcoming Rockwell College in the afternoon’s second match at the 4G pitch in UL.

Crescent’s Jonathan Byrne crossed for his side’s opening try after just two minutes thanks to a powerful maul effort but Evan Cusack’s conversion drifted wide.

Six minutes later, Rockwell got on the scoresheet and reduced the deficit when Mark Neville notched three points from the tee after his side were rewarded a penalty.

Crescent winger Ryan Scanlon produced some superb pace and footwork to find his way to the try line to score under the posts and this time Cusack made no mistake with his conversion attempt as the Limerick schools took a 12-3 lead.

Cresent Comprehensive’s players celebrate Darragh McKeogh scoring a try
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

To Rockwell’s credit, they kept coming back and Muiri Lambe got his side back into the game when he used his strength to fend off some Crescent tackle attempts to score next to the posts. Neville’s conversion brought it back to a two-point game.

Just before half-time, Crescent got their third try when Cormac Quinn crossed from close-range but Cusack’s conversion was unsuccessful as the Limerick school took a 17-10 lead into the break.

Rockwell got back into the game when Andrew Wall powered over after a tap-and-go penalty from five metres out but Neville’s conversion was wide so Crescent still had a two-point lead.

With Rockwell refusing to go away, Crescent decided to opt for three points on their next visit to their opponent’s territory with Cusack nothing a penalty to extend their lead out to five points.

Rockwell then scored another try from a tap-and-go penalty from five metres out and it was Wall again who crashed over and Cian Ralph converted to give Rockwell a two-point lead.

Comp came back in the dying minutes with two quick tries from Darragh McKeogh and Oran Copley with the latter try converted by Cusack to give the Limerick schools a 32-22 win.

Crescent will now meet CBC in the semi-finals.

Crescent College: Fionn Rowsome; Ryan Scanlon, Michael O’Mara, Ben Gallagher, Samuel Jordan; Evan Cusack, Andrew Clery; Ronan Ryan, Jonathan Byrne, Cathal Lanigan Ryan; Darragh McKeogh, Conor Ryan; Daniel Magee, Tom O’Brien, Cormac Quinn.

Replacements: Michael O’Brien, Cian Enright, Aleks Reddan, Oran Copley, Adedamola Obasa, Jayden Carmody, Gerry Joyce, Harry McDonogh, Rafael Junior Okafor, Rory O’Connor.

Rockwell College: Mark Neville; Danny Morris, Mathuín Carey, Muiri Lambe, Joe Higgins; Conor Molony Ryan, Aidan Russell; Matthew Attard, Ronan O’Connor, Andrew Wall; Ralph Kerry, Mateo Gutiereez; Clom O’Mahony, David Marshall, Alex Harold-Barry.

Replacements: Marcus Thompson, Jack Finn, Ciaran Pollard, Lucas Sheil, Robert Hayde, Michael Moloney, David O’Brien, Cian Ralph, Jack Stokes, Luke Thompson.