CBC come alive in the end

Munster Schools Cup/CBC Cork 8 Crescent College 5: A penalty from outhalf Brian Fleming five minutes from time fired Christian Brothers College into their second successive Munster Junior Cup final after a pedestrian semi-final replay at Musgrave Park yesterday.

The holders will again face Ard Scoil Rís in the final, as in last year's decider, but they were made to fight by a courageous Crescent challenge in a contest that lacked the spark of the drawn encounter.

Brian O'Callaghan, Darren Loftus and Patrick Parfrey led the charge for the Cork students, who were slow to settle.

Crescent played their most impressive rugby early on, albeit in patches, with Andrew Burke and Ian Cross prominent in the backs, while up front, Gordon Cagney, Pat Kinevane and Ronan Costello worked hard.

Crescent opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Tom Vaughan failed to field a Burke "Garryowen", Thomas Collins gathered the rebound and fed Cross for his side's try.

CBC awoke late in the game and, on a rare visit into the Crescent half, Darren Loftus peeled off a rolling maul for a try.

Then, on 55 minutes, Fleming stepped up to convert the winning penalty.

CBC: W Ryan; T Vaughan, S Creagh, P Parfrey, C O'Reilly; B Fleming, B O'Regan; A Joyce, D Attridge, J Bransfield; J Mulcahy, J Finn; J Crowley, D Loftus, B O'Callaghan. Replacements: E O'Connor for Joyce (h-t, inj), R Healy for Creagh (38 mins).

CRESCENT COLLEGE: F Aherne; T Collins, I Cross, E Healy, M Doyle; A Burke (capt), J O'Leary; E Hegarty, R Costello, S O'Carroll; P Kinevane, C Gleeson; C Hickey, R McNamara, G Cagney. Replacements: L Russell for Hickey, D Griffen for O'Carroll (both 40 mins), J Flannery for Hegarty (51 mins).

Referee: J Sheehan (MAR).