Gonzaga hold off valiant King’s Hospital fightback to reach quarter-final

Gonzaga 26, King's Hospital 19: Tries from Barry Goulding, Roddy Fitzpatrick, Ross McKeever, Andy Marks, three of which were converted by McKeever helped Gonzaga to victory over The King's Hospital at Balbriggan RFC in a Leinster Schools Senior Cup first round tie yesterday afternoon.

The Ranelagh school can now look forward to a last-eight showdown with St Andrew’s College, and on the basis of this performance, they will fancy their chances of progressing.

This meeting had suffered a number of postponements, and but it was the favoured Gonzaga who opened the scoring with just nine minutes gone on the clock. A sharp pass from a scrum by Nick Peters provided the platform for centre Barry Goulding to cross for a try, and with McKeever converting, Gonzaga had shown that they meant business.

This seven-point salvo from the impressive number 10 proved to be a confidence-boosting moment for Gonzaga, and they quickly supplemented their tally when Roddy Fitzpatrick embarked on a lung-bursting run on the left-flank, before touching down in devastating fashion underneath the posts for a second converted try.

It looked like the boys in green were on course to saunter towards a commanding victory, but King’s Hospital threw a spanner into the works with a supremely-executed try of their own courtesy of flanker Connor Spillane.

Outhalf Daniel Courtney missed the conversion, but King's were now firmly in the reckoning. But they were hit with a real sucker punch on the stroke of half-time, when the outstanding McKeever evaded a series of challenges to cross for a try. He couldn't quite find the range this time with the conversion.

Gonzaga nevertheless had reason to be satisfied with a 19-5 interval cushion. This certainly wasn’t an insurmountable deficit for King’s to negotiate, but when a neat offload by captain Andy Marks set-up a 44th minute try for Oscar O’Clerigh, a Gonzaga triumph seemed inevitable.

King’s Hospital gave themselves a fighting chance of turning the tide in their direction thanks to a fine finish on the right-hand side by bustling number eight Matthew Bursey.

As a result of this score (which was converted by Courtney), there was a sense of panic from Gonzaga as the final whistle approached, and secondrow Connor Kerr found a way through the opposition cover for his side’s third try on the stroke of 70 minutes.

Unfortunately, it proved to be a case of too little, too late for the Palmerstown boys, and when Gonzaga secured possession from the final attack, their passage to the next phase was finally sealed.