CONNACHT SENIOR CUP SEMI-FINAL:Coláiste Iognaid 25 Marist College 11
HOLDERS COLÁISTE Iognaid advanced to the final by defeating Marist College at Newcastle in a repeat of last year’s final.
The Galway school had to come from behind but there was no doubting their supremacy over their Athlone rivals as they advanced to their fourth final in five years.
Marist runners-up for the past two years, led with an early penalty from full back Kevin Dunne. Anthony McLoughlin equalised for Coláiste Iognaid after 26 minutes and three minutes later inside centre Eoin Griffin scored a superb try to help the holders lead 8-3 at the break.
Marist reduced the deficit with another penalty from Dunne eight minutes after the restart. But Iognaid pulled 25-6 clear with tries from Colin Conroy, Donnchadha Phelan and scrumhalf Fearghal Campbell before Marist battled bravely until the end and Neill Quigley went over for his side’s second try.
COLÁISTE IOGNAID:T Flaherty; A O'Loughlin, C Conroy, E Griffin, D McDonough; C F Murphy, F Campbell; B Madden, E Shaughnessy, N O'Maolain; B Kennedy, D Phelan; C J Murphy, A Conneely, E McKeon. Replacements: C Qualter for Kennedy (48mins), D Hickey for Griffin (62 mins), J O'Donnell for O'Maolain ( 62mins).
MARIST COLLEGE:K Dunne; C Greene, C Fitzgibbon, D O'Riordan, I Coffey; J Carty, A McArdle; D Henshaw, S Dowling, P Mannion; R Reid, N Quigley; S Feery, K Donnelly, B Fagan. Replacements: J Donaghue for Feery (44 mins), P Hewitt for Mannion, (48 mins), E McBrearty for Dowling (60 mins), A Connaughton for Donnelly ( 62 mins).
Referee:P McCarthy (CBIRFU).
Garbally College 10 Gallen CS 8
GARBALLY COLLEGE edged out the challenge of Gallen CS to book their place in the semi-finals at Ferbane yesterday.
Gallen took the lead in the contest with 20 minutes left when Callum Boland kicked a penalty in front of the posts to give the home team a slender 8-7 lead. However in the last 15 minutes matters began to change in Garbally’s favour. They missed one penalty chance but the crucial score came five minutes from the end when Aaron Fehily sent his kick from distance between the posts.
Gallen had got off to the best possible start with an early try three minutes in, after a well-constructed move and the impressive Callum Boland got clear to go over for a try. The conversion attempt seemed to go over but wasn’t given by the referee. Gallen had a good amount of possession in the first half and could have added further to their lead.
But Garbally struck on the stroke of half-time when Conal Gormley went over for a try. David Freeman followed up with the conversion as Garbally led 7-5 at half-time. Garbally threatened to add to their tally in the second half but in the final quarter they had to wait until five minutes from the end to deny Gallen victory.
GARBALLY COLLEGE:J Curley; M Cloonan, E Freyne, J Brooks, T Freeman; A Lockery, E Cloher; D Tierney, C Johnston, D Freeman; N Byrne, J Claffey; C Gormley, S Kenny, D Burke.
GALLEN CS:D Higgins; E O'Brien, KConroy, G Digan, S Dolan; C Hanniffy,
E Keena; M Larkin, R Cassidy, S Nally; R Melia, Claffey; C Auret, J Egan, C Boland.
Replacements:S Melia (for Conroy); E Casey (for Digan).
Referee:Emmet Dormer.
MUNSTER JUNIOR CUP SEMI-FINALS
PBC 12 CBC 12
STEVEN DINAN was the hero for PBC at Temple Hill yesterday as his late try and conversion forced a replay against CBC in a dramatic finish.
The sides were level at half-time after Rory Fenton and CBC captain Charlie Slowey had exchanged tries. Cian O’Halloran put CBC in front by touching down under the posts with just 10 minutes remaining but Dinan kept his nerve with the late conversion, which had to be retaken on the referee’s instructions, to earn his team another chance.
PBC:S Glynn; B Crowley (D OKeeffe, 43), S Dinan, G O'Callaghan, R Fenton; R Scannell, P O'Leary (T Duggan); H O'Halloran, D Keohane, R Callanan; R McCarthy, I Silke; M Curtin, W Foley, J Fitzgerald (captain).
CBC:N Griffin; J McCarthy, A Joyce, C OHalloran, A McCarthy; D ORiordan, E Geary; R Burke, C Slowey (captain), J Corbett; E Ahern, A Cashman; S Burke, C Martin, R ODowling.
Referee:D McCormack (MAR).
Crescent CC 5 Glenstal Abbey 3
CRESCENT College Comprehensive booked their place in the final with a hard-earned replay win over Glenstal Abbey at Dooradoyle yesterday.
Crescent scored the crucial try eight minutes into the second half.
In a game dominated by Glenstal, the winning try came from a good three-quarter line move which ended with secondrow Brian Mulcair barging his way over in the corner.
Glenstal went in front with a penalty by outhalf Luke Bradley after 19 minutes and they will rue missing three other penalty opportunities.
CRESCENT COMPREHENSIVE:G Barry; C Beatty, M Mulvihill, D Dee, E d Walsh; P Liston, R Doherty (G Lyons); J Sheehan, J Green, S Gleeson; B Mulcair, E Fitzgerald; K Hanley, D Culhane, J Dineen.
GLENSTAL ABBEY:S Gleeson; I Kennedy, R Shanahan, E Mullen, S O'Leary; L Bradley, A Devereux; T Gainsford, K Lynch, D Higgins, G Quinn, K Prendergast; T Ryan, M O'Riordan, I McCarthy.
Referee:D Moloney (MAR)
