St Michael's make all the right moves

RUGBY: St Michael's College 36 Belvedere College 8IT QUICKLY became apparent here – well, to almost everyone present – that St Michael's College were going to coast into the quarter-finals of the Leinster Schools' Cup. Too many marquee players, way too much cohesion and a team that seems intent on removing last season's jarring final experience from the collective psyche.

The real shame was that Belvedere College were unable to provide a more stern examination as their defensive line leaked far too frequently for a school with such an impressive rugby pedigree.

If not for an inexplicably high penalty count in the beaten side’s favour, resulting in two yellow cards, St Michael’s would have improved upon this six-try shellacking.

The first half belonged to their sparkling Irish Schools’ scrumhalf Luke McGrath. A veteran of last season’s campaign, McGrath, as St Michael’s captain, was more visibly frustrated than most with the stream of penalties whistled against his pack whenever they rumbled into the Belvedere 22.

With the contest still up for debate at 5-3, after centre Rory O’Loughlin crossed for the opening try, McGrath clearly decided to sort matters out himself. Off an attacking lineout, he sped through the first line of Belvedere bodies before backing his power and balance to glide away from the cover defence.

That he was assisted off the field after 56 minutes will be a major concern this week.

Considering former Irish lock Gabriel Fulcher is the Belvedere coach, the lineout usually provides a reliable attacking platform but it malfunctioned, despite secondrow Daryl Lynch having a fine game, although they did get plenty of change out of the St Michael’s scrum. Sometimes before the ball was even put in.

Considering the collisions promised further down the tracks, all eyes were on the St Michael’s backrow, especially young Dan Leavy at six, who didn’t disappoint with an impressive show of physicality and awareness while Andrew Murphy was another important contributor from openside. Both flankers had charges held up just shy of the line, both leading to relieving Belvedere penalties as the rest of the forwards piled in, but before the interval it was McGrath again who forced the issue by driving over two tacklers for his second try. Rory Kavanagh’s conversion made it 17-3.

There was still time before the break for a Belvedere riposte but when their sortie into the St Michael’s 22 was slowed by several bodies, referee Eanna O’Dowd sent fullback Cameron Diamond to the sin bin for seven minutes.

Despite the numerical advantage, Belvedere were unable to make an impact and seconds after the St Michael’s fullback returned a burst by Murphy eventually resulted in prop Jamie Lawless putting the result beyond doubt. The big tighthead finished off a clever attack down the short side.

The penalty count continued to build in Belvedere’s favour but at no point did they produce the inventiveness required to make inroads off set-piece or from broken play. Sure enough, a stream of lateral attacks eventually led to a handling error and O’Loughlin pounced to sprint all of 80 metres for try number five.

Diamond, following in elder brother Cormac’s footsteps, rounded off the try scoring for the Anglesea Road school. Despite over 10 minutes still remaining, St Michael’s understandably emptied the bench and cashed in their chips.

There was still time for a second yellow card as replacement prop Ross O’Neill was dismissed for a dangerous tackle on Belvedere scrumhalf David Shanahan.

The sin binning looked warranted but the hit seemed more clumsy and born out of enthusiasm rather than malice.

In injury time, after prop James McCabe was stopped by three blue jerseys, Shanahan dummied before stretching over for a much needed Belvedere touchdown. It was scant consolidation as another campaign ends early for the 2008 champions.

Despite the flow of tries, it wasn’t that insightful a game. It is already established that St Michael’s are contenders again this year.

The coaching team, which includes Bernard Jackman, would be forgiven for seeking a pre-match interpretation from the next referee about how the breakdown and scrum will be judged.

Excellent start nonetheless.

St Mary’s or Kilkenny, who play tomorrow, are next up on February 10th.

St Michael’s and all neutral spectators will hope McGrath’s injury is not serious.

SCORING SEQUENCE– 2 mins: D Carey pen, 3-0; 3: R O'Loughlin try, 3-5; 23: L McGrath try, 3-10; 35: L McGrath try, 3-15; R Kavanagh conv, 3-17. half-time. 42: J Lawless try, 22-3; 50: R O'Loughlin try, 27-3; R Kavanagh conv, 29-3; 58: C Diamond try, 34-3; R Kavanagh conv, 36-3; 70: D Shanahan try, 8-36.

ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: C Diamond; M Corballis, R O'Loughlin, R Kavanagh, C Kelleher; B Holland, L McGrath (capt); T O'Connell, J Headon, J Lawless; M O'Neill, D Lawlor; D Leavy, A Murphy, C Daly. Replacements: R O'Neill for T O'Connell, D Coulson for D Lawlor, R Mooney for D Leavy, S Dawson for C Kelleher (all 52 mins), B Butler for L McGrath (56 mins), A Barr for J Lawless, R Byrne for B Holland (both 59 mins).

BELVEDERE COLLEGE: S Baird; D Brennan, C O'Sullivan, F Sullivan, D Kennedy; D Carey, D Shanahan; K Foley, A Slein, J McCabe; K O'Donoghue, D Lynch; G Offiah, D Fernee, B Byrne. Replacements: P Lalor for K Foley, E O'Hehir for G Offiah, J Hawshaw for D Brennan (all 45 mins).

Referee: E O'Dowd.