St Joseph's, Galway, had the upper hand in this Connacht Schools Senior Cup quarter-final replay against St Muredach's, Ballina, at Galway Sportsground yesterday. Centre Martin McPhail, who played for the Irish Schools against the Irish under-19s earlier this season, and number eight and captain Ambrose Conboy, an under-19 squad member against Italy this weekend, scored two tries each.
The early stages were dominated by St Joseph's but without reward as they played against a stiff wind. St Muredach's came more into the game and were unlucky not to gain the lead, when, in the 35th minute, they seemed set to touch down with a two-man overlap. But the ball was dropped with the St Joseph's line at their mercy.
Then, a minute into injury time, McPhail ran from halfway and was tackled near the St Muredach's line. However, he spun over the few extra metres to score and Killian Riddell converted to make it 7-0.
The second half was three minutes old when the St Joseph's scrumhalf Gareth O'Sullivan acted as provider for Conboy to cross on the far right.
On 48 minutes, the St Muredach's captain David White and outhalf Brian Morrow combined in a move which finally involved centre Stephen Lacken, who scored a try which reduced the leeway to 12-5. But St Joseph's, who meet St Saran's, Ferbane, in the semi-final stage, finished with two more tries from Conboy and McPhail.
ST JOSEPH'S: D Keady; K Riddell, D Waldron, M McPhail, E Kiely; P Cuddy, G O'Sullivan; C Whiriskey, A O'Connell, R Keane, T O'Neill, D Rogers, D Golden, A Conboy (capt), S Dixon.
ST MUREDACH'S: T Reilly; P Harte, S Lacken, D White (capt), R Killeen; B Morrow, B Diamond; A Higgins, J McCarthy, D O'Boyle, C Walsh, J Durcan, J Keely, K Healy, L Colhoun. Replacement: S Kilroy for Durcan (40 mins).
Referee: F Fahy (ARCB)
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