O'Dwyer the spark as Roscrea triumph

LEINSTER SCHOOLS' SENIOR CUP Cistercian Roscrea 15 Terenure College 11:TERENURE SIDES have done it a thousand times before and this seemed no different.

Trailing by seven points entering the final throes of a game they probably should have sown up long before, but were playing poorly and lacked conviction, they won a penalty deep in the Roscrea 22.

The players wanted to kick to the corner and work off their trusty lineout to leave only a conversion to tie matters up. The coaching staff over-ruled them, getting word to captain and outhalf Danny McCormack to kick for goal. He did. Four-point game, four minutes to play.

Four minutes to make all the graft and ingenuity of Cistercians irrelevant.

They duly came again with a clever dummy and break by replacement scrumhalf Robbie Rumley yielding another penalty for Roscrea hands in the ruck. It looked a harsh call and so easily could have gone the other way for not releasing (who would be a referee). It meant Terenure had an attacking lineout near the opposition line. In this situation the school with a history of success wins 99 times out of 100.

Young men like Cistercians number eight Colin Mahony, with a particularly bruising rib tickler on Terenure groundhog Niall Lawlor, contributed handsomely to yesterday becoming the anomaly in this theory.

So, a break in tradition as Roscrea find themselves just one game away, against St Gerard’s on March 6th at Donnybrook, from their first schools final since Gavin Duffy’s team were beaten by Blackrock in 1999.

Speaking of fullbacks, this contest was largely decided by one. Terenure would have probably sneaked into the last four if not for the interventions of Philip O’Dwyer. A wiry, natural footballer, O’Dwyer created the spark that led to the Roscrea tries, both of which were wildly against the run of play.

Three minutes into first-half injury-time a boring match was locked at 3-3 and nobody could decide who the better team was. Not that it seemed to matter in the greater scheme of things.

But then O’Dwyer grabbed everyone’s attention with a side-stepping dash out of his 22. He would have been forgiven for being selfish and haring for the try-line but instead he drew Terenure fullback Ryan Roopnarinsingh before offloading to Ireland Under-19 centre Shane Layden. As the cover threatened to envelop him, Layden grubbered the ball towards the corner flag, turning it into a foot race. Moments earlier the wonderfully-named Maurice Fitzgerald had sprung off the bench for injured winger Cormac Brennan. Fitzgerald’s electric pace beat everyone and he fell on the ball over the line.

Terenure still seemed to possess the street smarts to reel them back in. That is until the next moment of calamity. As they attacked wide, Roscrea left wing Matthew Mellotte intercepted and quickly fed O’Dwyer who flew off down the tramline. Again, he had the good sense to draw a defender before passing to Maloney who, in turn, gave it to hooker Denis O’Dwyer for a glorious sprint in under the posts.

Bill Duggan added the conversion to leave Roscrea 15-3 ahead but 24 minutes still remained on the countdown clock.

Plenty of time for Terenure to realign the balance of power. The bench was emptied with the physical presence of Cillian Simpson having an immediate impact. They weren’t long crossing for a try in the left corner thanks to the pace of winger Philip Smith.

That O’Dwyer was forced off with a leg injury soon after robbed Roscrea of an inspirational force for the agonising end game.

But others stepped up to equal O’Dwyer’s heroics, making the sort of wincing tackles they have never made before. Many of them will have twisted and bruised limbs this morning but they will feel no pain. The magical healing powers of victory.

Now, confoundingly, the main draw’s second semi-final will be between two gangs that will also meet in the league final, providing Roscrea can beat Kilkenny. For the uninitiated, the league is supposedly a sidebar competition for the lesser lights of Leinster schools rugby. It is now looking more and more like the ideal preparatory ground for success on the main stage.

Scoring sequence: 11 mins: B Duggan pen, 3-0; 17 mins: R Roopnarinsingh pen, 3-3; 38 mins: M Fitzgerald try, 8-3. 46 mins: D O'Dwyer try, 13-3; B Duggan conv, 15-3; 52 mins: P Smith try, 15-8; 65 mins: D McCormack conv, 15-11.

CISTERCIAN COLLEGE, ROSCREA: P O'Dwyer; C Brennan, S Layden, C Finn (capt), M Mellotte; B Duggan, G Gallagher; G Fallon, D O'Dwyer, C Farrell; A McGrath, R Maloney; A Henderson, E Quirke, C Maloney. Replacements: M Fitzgerald for C Brennan (34 mins), J O'Driscoll for P O'Dwyer, O Heffernan for C Farrell (both 61 mins), R Mooney for A Henderson (70 mins).

TERENURE COLLEGE: R Roopnarinsingh; S O'Loughlin, C Quigley, D Olin, P Smith; D McCormack, R Barry; P O'Reilly, J Carroll, S Borza; R Malone, R Somerville; B Twomey, N Lalor, G Furlong. Replacements: C Owens for P O'Reilly, E Kelly for B Twomey, C Simpson for R Malone, C Jones for D Olin (all 43 mins), R Rumley for R Barry (53 mins), D Hynes for J Carroll, J Kirwan for R Somerville (both 61 mins).

Referee: J Montayne(ARLB).