Leinster Senior Cup - St Mary's Col 32 Terenure Col 14: As a statement of intent, it was pretty impressive. St Mary's College produced a high-quality performance to dethrone the defending champions and in doing so avenged last year's defeat in the second round.
Victory was emphatic and deserved, St Mary's scoring five tries to one, and playing with the élan behind the scrum for which the school is renowned. Terenure to their credit never shirked responsibility but could offer only rare glimpses of the continuity and control required to offer their backs opportunities.
A central component in the St Mary's success was the performance of their lineout both on their own throw and in poaching opposing ball. In this respect, second-rows Niall Conway and Fergus O'Sullivan were outstanding and it would be churlish not to recognise the contribution of hooker Ollie McCormack.
There was a strong wind blowing down the pitch and the ball was greasy so the accuracy of his delivery was nothing short of remarkable. St Mary's number eight Robert Timmons performed superbly on the Terenure throw, pick-pocketing possession half a dozen times.
Denied a platform out of touch Terenure found it very difficult to sustain any territorial advantage, reliant on striking from deep. Initially it appeared that tactic would be fruitful. Centre David Page broke through on a cutback early while David Cazabon also made good progress on another occasion.
The champions received the perfect start with a try on six minutes from right-wing James Donnell. There appeared to be little on when he received possession in midfield 30 metres from the St Mary's line but he skated around Ian O'Herlihy, then Ronan Doherty before finally eluding Stephen Grissing for a superb individual effort.
Outhalf Frank Gildea could not improve upon the score by adding the extra points. St Mary's were level within three minutes following a try by flanker Paul Nash: a fine catch and drive from a lineout paved the way. Excellent scrumhalf Simon Gibney could not convert as he also failed to do when St Mary's left-wing Ronan Doherty grabbed a brace of tries.
His first came after Timmons popped up in midfield in the Terenure 22 and Doherty raced around the defence on the outside. His second was better, cutting through a gap just inside the Terenure half, and then picking a superb angle to outpace the cover over 45 metres.
Gildea's penalty in between the two tries had offered his side a temporary respite but St Mary's polished backplay was once again in evidence on 36 minutes when from a five-metre scrum outhalf Joey Connolly shaped up for a long cut-out pass but instead popped a shorter one to fullback Grissing who ran between his centres to score under the posts. Gibney converted.
Gildea kicked two penalties either side of the interval to reduce the deficit to 22-14 but a similar strike from Gibney and beautifully constructed try for St Mary's right-wing James Clarke which the scrumhalf converted eased St Mary's to an 18-point advantage that they maintained to the finish.
St Mary's offer a very comprehensive package in terms of team quality. They possess a very powerful scrum, an excellent lineout and an enterprising back row. Gibney ran the game very intelligently from scrumhalf while his half-back partner Connolly distributed excellently.
The three-quarter line is an amalgam of pace and power while in full-back Grissing they have one of the best broken field runners in the competition. They are in a tough quarter of the draw but on yesterday's evidence it is future opponents that will be more concerned.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6 mins: Donnelly try, 5-0; 9: Nash try, 5-5; 17 mins: Doherty try, 5-10; 26 mins: Gildea pen, 8-10; 28 mins: Doherty try, 8-15; 36 mins: Grissing try, Gibney con, 8-22; 39: Gildea pen, 11-22. Half-time: 11-22. 44 mins: Gildea pen, 14-22; 47 mins: Gibney pen, 14-25; 59 mins: Clarke try, Gibney con, 14-32.
TERENURE COLLEGE: G Byrne; J Donnelly, D Cazabon, D Page, W Moore; C Gildea, S Jenkinson (capt); F Cronin, K Molloy, K Dooley; E Wallace, D O'Doherty; A Dunlop, C Duffy, K O'Malley Farrell. Replacements: N McCann for Dooley 60 mins.
ST MARY'S COLLEGE: S Grissing; J Clarke, M Ryan, I O'Herlihy, R Doherty; J Connolly, S Gibney; C O'Byrne, O McCormack, R Sweeney; N Conway, F O'Sullivan; J Ryan, R Timmons, P Nash. Replacements: G Roche for O'Herlihy 60 mins; J Sexton for Connolly 70 mins; P Spillane for O'Byrne 70 mins; M Finlay for Clarke 70 mins.
Referee: A Rogan (Leinster).
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