Sport

Dunne's boot the difference

Leinster Senior Cup final/Old Belvedere 19 Clontarf 16: Andrew Dunne struck a superb, injury-time penalty to give Old Belvedere…

Mon Nov 13 2006 - 00:00

Leinster Senior Cup final/Old Belvedere 19 Clontarf 16: Andrew Dunne struck a superb, injury-time penalty to give Old Belvedere a shock win over favourites Clontarf and see them claim their first Leddin Finance Leinster Senior Cup since 1968 at Donnybrook yesterday.

Of course, Dunne had experience of this sort of pressure. It was his conversion of Simon Keogh's late try that made NEC Harlequins the European Challenge Cup winners in 2004.

This time, he followed his beautifully angled kick with a charging block-down of Brian Collins' drop goal attempt, and it was Old Belvedere's ability to spoil and disrupt Clontarf around the fringe of ruck and maul that ultimately enabled them to hold onto a slender advantage.

Dunne kicked penalties in the third and 11th minutes to give the underdogs a lead, but that was soon wiped away by efforts from Darragh O'Shea in the 16th and 22nd minutes.

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Old Belvedere's impressive full-back, Eamon Fitzgerald, darted down the side of a disjointed ruck for a try, converted by Dunne, in the 37th minute, and Dunne's drop goal gave his side a healthy 16-6 lead at the interval.

Clontarf coach Phil Werahiko showed what he thought of his forwards' erratic form by bringing in aggressive loose forwards Declan Quinn and Phil Perdue for former Belvedere College graduates Cian Healy and Martin Garvey at the break.

Replacements Quinn and openside Niall Carson got to the line for tries in the 49th and 70th minutes to level it up. And Clontarf might have won if O'Shea had not pulled the conversion of Carson's try and sliced a straightforward penalty wide soon after.

SCORERS:

Old Belvedere: E Fitzgerald try; A Dunne, 3 pens, drop goal, con.

Clontarf: D Quinn, N Carson try each; D O'Shea 2 pens.

OLD BELVEDERE: E Fitzgerald; P Treacy, B Kinsella, D Sharkey, K Barden; A Dunne, R Cushion; R Keane, D Gavin, M Wilczuk, R Sharkey, E Jackman, M McLoughlin, D Shanley, S Rockett. Replacements: C Davis for Shanley (56 mins); B Kose for Keane (61 mins); C Kennedy for Sharkey (68 mins); R Murphy for Cushion (75 mins).

CLONTARF: M Nethery; P Howard, D O'Shea, N MacNamara, M Rantz-MacDonald; P O'Brien, F O'Loughlin; J Wickham, C Healy, A Clarke, J Duffy, A Trenier, S Crawford, N Carson, M Garvey. Replacements: N O'Brien for Rantz-MacDonald (11 mins); D Quinn for Healy, P Perdue for Garvey; J Kennedy for McNamara (all h-t); B Collins for O'Brien (75 mins).

Referee: M Gargan (IRFU).