Newbridge put on a powerful second-half display against an innovative High School at Anglesea Road to march into the second round of the junior cup.
High School smaller in physique but big in heart pulled back a Barry Flanagan penalty for Newbridge when loose head Tennyson Egar crashed over on 18 minutes. Out-half Philip de Barra slotted over the convert and High School were good value for a 7-3 halftime lead.
Newbridge changed their jerseys at the break and put on a much more powerful display as their forwards marched through the High School defence.
Their back row of Willie O'Brien, Jonathan Holmes and number eight Jamie Heaslip took out the inside cover to allow the backs to move the ball to right wing, Eimhin Burns, who with an overlap scored two fine tries on 35 and 50 minutes. A penalty from out-half Stephen McGrath and a conversion from fullback Barry Flanagan, put the Kildare boys 187 ahead.
With two minutes to go High school for the first time in the half, moved into the Newbridge 22. Their scrum-half, Dave Foran, who showed quality throughout, pounced on a loose ball from a Newbridge scrum and rattled his way over from five metres to record the last score of the match.
Scoring sequence: 10 mins - B FLanagan pen; 18 mins - T Egar try; 19 mins - P De Barra con; 35 mins - E Burns try; 49 mins - S McGrath pen; 50 mins - E Burns try; 51 mins - B Flanagan con; 58 mins - D Foran try.
High School: E Morrissey; B Vard, B Logan, R Burns, S Gillespie; P De Barra, D Foran; T Egar, J Collery, C D'Arcy; R Condron, F Cooney; A Feldman, N O'Shea, E McNally.
Newbridge: D Flanagan; E Burns, P Coonan, T Murphy, R Walsh; S McGrath, B O'Donnell; D Kearns, P Bough, R Price, S Byrne, G Rowan, W O'Brien, J Holmes, J Heaslip.
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