Christian Brothers College 22
Rockwell College 10
Andrew Horgan reports from Musgrave Park
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS CHRISTIAN Brothers College are through to the final of the Clayton Hotel Munster Schools Senior Cup after they saw off the challenge of Rockwell College at Musgrave Park on Tuesday afternoon.
Rockwell were looking to return to the final for the first time since 2015, when they defeated Ardscoil Rís 23-13 to land the cup for the 26th time in their illustrious history.
After a strong start to proceedings here, they finally got on the board in the ninth minute when Peter Wall powered over in the corner for the game’s first try.
Christians, champions a record 30 times, were hoping to do their part in potentially setting up a repeat of last year’s all-Cork final with Presentation Brothers College who play St Munchin’s in the other semi-final on Wednesday afternoon, and they edged in front moments later.
Cian Whooley’s incisive kick over the top broke perfectly for Jack Morehead and the number 12 gathered possession before touching down under the crossbar, giving George Coomber an easy conversion.
Whooley was again involved moments later as the Cork school extended their advantage to 14-5 just past the midway point in the first half.
The out-half dummied and skipped past a number of challenges which allowed him to cleverly hand it off to the on-running Andrew O’Mahony who eventually made his way across the line for a fine score.
Coomber curled over a stunning conversion that initially seemed to be going well wide, and he added a penalty late in the half to give his side a 17-5 lead at the interval.
The Cork school all but officially confirmed their place in the showpiece occasion shortly after the restart thanks to a try from the impressive Ronan O’Sullivan but the Tipp side fought until the end and reduced the arrears through Tom Tobin late in the game.
Scorers for Christian Brothers College:
Tries: Jack Morehead, Andrew O’Mahony and Ronan O’Sullivan
Cons: George Coomber (2)
Pens: George Coomber
Scorers for Rockwell College:
Tries: Peter Wall and Tom Tobin
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS COLLEGE: Johnny Murphy, Aaron Leahy, George Coomber, Jack Morehead, David Kiely, Cian Whooley, Andrew O’Mahony, Alex O’Regan, Luke McAuliffe, Corey Hanlon, Robbie Kelleher, Jason Aherne, Patrick McBarron, Ronan O’Sullivan, Finn Mac Flannchadha
Replacements: Alan McDonald, Andrew Treacy, James Morrison, Conor Lavin, Mark O’Connor and Shane Buckley
ROCKWELL COLLEGE: Joshua O’Dwyer, Peter Wall, Sam Tarleton, Alan Flannery, Tom Tobin, John O’Sullivan, Adam Maher, Dylan Foley, Dean Fanning, Matthew Burke, Luke Fogarty, Brian O’Dea, Cathal Kelly, Richard Anglim, Liam Shine
Replacements: Kevin Grogan and Michael Mulligan
Referee: Kieran Barry (MAR)