Three outstanding St Mary's tries won them a fiercely contested match against Terenure at Donnybrook yesterday. Terenure were unlucky to lose one of the best matches of the year so far as they had come from behind to almost snatch a win in the closing stages.

St Mary's put themselves in pole position with an early try by centre Stephen Grissing, after a speedy break by scrum-half Conor Lane and excellent follow up by out-half Jonathan Sexton.

Sexton converted and Lane added another try before Terenure got onto the scoreboard.

Terenure were always in contention and they improved their prospects with three penalty goals by full back David Cazabon and a brilliant run through the St Mary's defence by out-half Ronan Harrison that led to a fine try.

But a lethal score by St Mary's flanker and Despite Terenure's final onslaught, Mary's held on to win by a single point.

St Mary's: G Roche; T Daly, S Grissing, M Findlay, R Casari; J Sexton, C Lane; M Houlihan, O McCormack (capt), D Fallon, B Smith, P Sweeney, J Ryan, A Hutchinson, P Nash. Replacements: J Kelly for Smith.

Terenure College: D Cazabon (capt); C Doyle, B O'Sullivan, N Murphy, G Byrne; R Harrison, D Brophy; K Molloy, T Small, N McCann, B Murphy, S McCallion, K O'Malley-Farrell, M Shanahan, A Dunlop. Replacements: J Fleming for McCallion.

Referee: P Gray (Leinster Branch).