Leinster Junior Cup final: St Michael’s College 14 St Mary’s College 10
Second-half tries from James Farrell and Charlie Endall, both converted by Eoghan McNulty, completed St Michael’s comeback win in the Leinster Schools Junior Cup final at Energia Park on Friday afternoon.
In the opening exchanges, St Michael’s preference to play through the hands was interrupted by Richard Cahill’s interception and rolling kick deep inside the 22.
Halfbacks Daniel Bishop and Moss Sheehan surveyed the impact of their heavy runners then moved the ball left for Hugh Fitzgerald to make the pass for Cahill to score in the left corner in the sixth minute.
A knock-on in the tackle prevented St Michael’s from striking back when centre McNulty hacked on a loose ball and collected for a try that was later disallowed.
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But scrumhalf Bishop got the St Michael’s attack firing again when he came back down the short side for Sheehan to exploit space, flanker Peter O’Neill delaying a blind pass for Adam Smyth to dive over in the right corner for 10-0 at the interval.
St Mary’s were making their presence felt at the breakdown with centres Smyth and Nicholas Crawley bringing impressive physicality, while Sheehan’s tactical kicking gave them a foothold.
When Hugh Fitzgerald managed a supreme fetch in the air, St Michael’s looked under threat, soon made worse by a a yellow card to Louis Marsh for his part in bringing down a maul.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, St Michael’s showed superb strength to maul 20 metres for hooker Farrell to dot down on 46 minutes, leaving McNulty to split the posts for 10-7.
From there it all started to come together for St Michael’s. With 52 minutes on the clock, scrumhalf Tommy Asple pivoted to put loosehead Endall in to ground from a metre out, McNulty converting for 14-10.
Chasing a try, St Mary’s came charging forward with Finn McEntee and Adam Brennan eating up the metres. Fitzgerald almost bagged their third in the left corner, but after a turnover at the breakdown St Michael’s earned two vital penalties to relieve the pressure, holding out for the four-point win.
ST MICHAEL’S: M Carroll; R Nolan, E McNulty, J Gunne, G Kelly; O Crehan, T Asple; C Endall, J Farrell, D Kelly, D Meijer, H Draper, L Marsh, CJ Rowell, R O’Malley. Replacements: J Divily for Rowell (36 mins), O Healy for G Kelly (38), K Calvert for D Kelly (45), E Coonan for Gunne (58).
Yellow card: Marsh (43 mins).
ST MARY’S: H Fitzgerald; C Rapple, N Crawley, A Smyth, R Cahill; M Sheehan, D Bishop; J Friedrich, R Ryan, F Ward, P Cassells-Sanchez, A Brennan, P O’Neill, M Hoey, F McEntee. Replacements: W Sheridan for Cassells-Sanchez (45 mins), R Rigby for Rapple (50), R Alonso for Sheehan (56), E Chambers for Friedrich (58).
Referee: K Beakey.
