A late try by out-half David Murphy turned defeat into victory for St Patrick's, Navan, and sent them into the second round of the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup Section A and a date with Portmarnock. Murphy crossed the line with the support of his pack to give the Meath school a two-point win shortly before the end of a closely contested opening round game.

New Ross got off to a promising start when Paddy Walsh crossed the Navan line for the first score of the half, but full back David Hendricks converted a couple of penalties and at the interval St Patrick's led 6-5.

New Ross regained the initiative when David O'Connor secured an early try and Mark Ronan added the points from the conversion. However, the New Ross side were to spend much of the second half defending a three-point advantage, but still looked likely to hold out because St Patrick's missed a number of penalty chances.

The all-important try came at the end of the game and the losers did not have enough time to get back into the contest.