Cistercian College, Roscrea, staged a dramatic recovery and snatched victory with a penalty five minutes into injury time against St Michael's College at Portlaoise yesterday.
St Michael's made good use of the strong wind in the first half and opened the scoring with a penalty from Simon Byrne. Five minutes later the Dublin college scored the game's only try when left winger David Becker crossed in the right corner. Simon Byrne converted to leave his side leading 10-0 at halftime. Roscrea were slow to get into their stride after the break and the half was eight minutes old when they were awarded their first penalty, which Shane Garvey kicked from 30 metres.
Garvey kicked his second penalty in the 25th minute and his third inched Roscrea to within a point of St Michael's with five minutes of normal time remaining.
Roscrea then piled on the pressure which yielded a fourth penalty from an awkward angle 40 metres out. However, Garvey calmly kicked the ball between the posts and a minute later the referee blew the final whistle.
CISTERCIAN ROSCREA: E O'Malley; A Byrne, J O'Brien, G Duffy, H Kenny; S Garvey, G Ross; S Byrne, J Phelan, B Hall, P McCarthy, A Spring, P Corcoran, D O'Loughlin, B McCann. Replace- ments: E Condon for J O'Brien, D Cavanagh for H Kenny, J McGuinness for A Spring, D O'Meara for B McCann.
ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: F Baynes; S Brady, D McCaba, JP Byrne, D Becker; S Byrne, S Keogh; G Cleary, R Norton, P Kenny, A Kearney, B O'Brien, D Shanahan, M Byrne, J Byrne. Replace- ment: C Hutton for D Becker (injured).
Referee: N Carter.
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