O'Keefe penalty lands spoils for High School

Leinster Schools Junior Cup/ The High School 3; CUS 0: A penalty from High School outhalf Alan O'Keefe ensured his team progressed to the quarter-final of the Fr Godfrey Cup in an evenly matched contest at Templeville Road yesterday.

CUS had the opportunity to tie the scores with the last kick of the game but left-wing Luke O'Toole's penalty faded off to the left to leave contrasting emotions on the field as referee Andrew Purcell blew for full-time.

Initially, the contest was littered with errors, a natural occurrence when players perform on the big stage for the first time, but there was no shortage of heroics especially in defence.

After 13 minutes High School number eight David Wilson looked set to cross for the opening try but a superb tackle from full back Felim McMahon stopped him in his tracks.

The only points of the afternoon arrived just before the break when CUS were penalised for repeatedly killing the ball in their 22. O'Keefe calmly slotted over from in front of the posts.

The game descended into stalemate in the second period with both packs cancelling each other out. O'Keefe was wide with his only other kick at goal but his early strike was enough to set-up a showdown with St Patrick's, Navan in the next round.

THE HIGH SCHOOL: A Lohan; R Rath, S Sherwood, N Kinlan, A McMurray; A O'Keefe, J Sargent; I Lobban, B McNally, R Bannister, G Prunty, J Wright, A Smith, T Meredith, D Wilson. Replacements: J Kilby for Meredith (50 mins), K Johnson for McMurray (57).

CUS: F McMahon; D Campbell, G Leech, C Hendricks, L O'Toole; H Murray, C O'Brien; R O'Connor, D Fernandez, J Mulville, E Sheehy, P Fitzpatrick, S Fraher, R O'Dwyer, S Molle.

Referee: A Purcell (ARLB).