St Michael's will be hard to deny this time

RUGBY LEINSTER SCHOOLS' SENIOR CUP: St Michael's College 28 Newbridge College 7AFTER LAST season's disastrous exit, which many of the current crop experienced, St Michael's have returned as genuine Leinster Schools' Senior Cup contenders.

Winning this tournament now would solidify their claims to be one of the Big Five rugby schools in the province, and possibly shove fellow Holy Ghosts St Mary’s out of that category in the process.

In 2006, they made the final only to lose to Luke Fitzgerald’s Blackrock.

In 2007, Conor Cleary’s team finally entered the threshold of their Ailesbury Road grounds as champions for the first time. They have competed in the last three Junior Cup finals.

This team is a combination of those three. Basically, a group of players with a ravenous hunger not to be pipped at the post again.

Crucially, they have a kid named Alex Kelly in the centre who can turn water into wine. Remember the name, because Kelly has that stamp of unlimited potential evident from one, sometimes two, players in this competition each year.

They also have an outhalf called Cathal Marsh who kicked four from four here, two from the touchline, and ghosted through the Newbridge line on several occasions, showcasing a rare and subtle rugby brain.

Then there is the pack, led by Irish under-19 captain Emmett MacMahon, who is followed by a tough bunch, particularly blindside flanker Daniel Leavy, who ended up in the sin bin for his troubles (in a positive development, the referees have clearly been instructed to flash their yellow cards after one caution).

What really impressed, though, was a barely satisfied reaction to the performance both from the coaches and the players.

True, the scrum was bullied by the bigger Newbridge eight, but technical superiority saw them home.

That, and Kelly’s Matrix-like awareness. Eleven minutes in and he made his first impact (after being so ruthlessly shut down by the Blackrock midfield in last year’s 47-7 demolition), drifting outside fellow representative player Sam Coghlan-Murray before spinning a skip pass perfectly into the grasp of winger Mark Corballis. Pace did the rest. Marsh banged over the conversion from wide left.

Newbridge, well drilled at the lineout and maul by Kiwi coach Phil Werahiko, were not making matters easy for themselves with needless kicking into a strong wind.

What seemed the killer blow came on 26 minutes when a terrible error near the Newbridge try-line presented St Michael’s with a five-metre scrum.

With Kelly acting as a decoy, Marsh sent Mark Craig crashing over near the uprights.

The outhalf embellished his reputation with a try-saving tackle on Newbridge flanker Robert OConnor before half-time. His pack were impressed and they let him know it.

Dublin minor footballer Cormac Diamond, a rugby fullback, is another class act in this St Michael’s team, be it in attack or, with the constant threat of Coghlan-Murray’s pace, defence.

Number eight Paddy Dix was lucky to avoid a sin binning before the break, but that was their last warning.

Leavy got seven minutes for dismantling a maul and it nearly proved costly.

When he returned, Peter Osbourne was converting his own try, that looked suspiciously like a knock-on, after sustained Newbridge pressure.

At this juncture we learned about the mental resolve of the 2010 St Michael’s SCT. They had yet to visit Newbridge territory in the second half, but after Kelly, and then Marsh, got them over the gainline, Kelly came again to dance clear, draw three defenders and glance at the overlap out wide before slipping a delicate inside offload that sent Leavy scampering over untouched.

The fourth try came from under-16 replacement winger Rory Kavanagh, who held his nerve to land on the ball after a clever grubber kick by Diamond.

Marsh took a deep breath before squeezing a touchline conversion into the wind and inside the left post.

The bench could then be emptied as coach Greg McWilliams began plans for the quarter-final, probably against a decent Castleknock outfit.

SCORING SEQUENCE:11 mins: M Corballis try, C Marsh conv, 7-0; 26: M Craig try, C Marsh conv, 14-0. Half-time. 54: P Osbourne try, conv, 14-7; 63: D Leavy try, C Marsh conv, 21-7; 67: R Kavanagh try, C Marsh conv, 28-7.

ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: C Diamond; M Corballis, A Kelly, M Craig, D Egan; C Marsh, L McGrath; K Duffy, F Barry, T O'Connell; S O'Connor, E MacMahon (capt); D Leavy, C Kenna, P Dix. Replacements: R Kavanagh for D Egan (37 mins), A Murphy for F Barry (58 mins), W Browne for T O'Connell (62 mins), A Murphy for F Barry, S McGarry for C Kenna, S Hogan for S O'Connor (all 66 mins), K Jones for L McGrath (67 mins).

NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE: G Burns; C Meylor, S Coghlan-Murray, D Hennebry, A Dunne; C Browne, P Osbourne; D Rigney, C Thompson, J Tracy (capt); J Cantillon, J Davis; M Duke, R O'Connor, R Mangan. Replacements: K Mahon for A Dunne (36 mins), C Kings for C Thompson, A Cronin for J Cantillon, M Brown for D Hennebry (all 65 mins).

Referee: B Montayne (ARLB).