King’s Hospital 8-33 Clongowes Wood College
CLONGOWES HAVE SECURED a place in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup quarter-finals after an impressive second-half performance against King’s Hospital.
The underdogs entered the field to a huge cheer and looked so pumped for the game that there may have been concerns of them controlling their emotions during the contest. However, any fears were quickly eased and King’s dominated the early stages of the game.
Clongowes were barely out of their own half when King’s were awarded the first penalty of the game after several errors by Clongowes. Full-back Paul McCullagh stood up to give them a 3-0 lead.
That score sprung Clongowes into action and if it wasn’t for some last-ditch defending in the corner, their response would have been immediate.
As the rain started to fall midway through the first-half, kicking became more prevalent, with King’s fly-half Daniel Courtney starting to pull the strings with some clever kicks into the 22.
Clongowes, however got the crucial first try of the game as lock Florence McCarthy bundled the ball over the line after nice work from Patrick Nulty. Centre Benjamin O’Shea, who kicked well throughout in tough conditions, converted to give Clongowes a 7-3 lead.
The men from Palmerstown didn’t wilt under the pressure and responded with a try of their own. After refusing to go for goal with a tricky penalty, they opted to kick into the corner and after several phases of play, they managed to re-take the lead after Sean Goodburn scored a maul try on the half-hour. The conversion was missed by McCullagh and King’s wouldn’t score again for the rest of the match.
The game turned when O’Shea managed to score three penalties in quick succession, with two coming before the break to give Clongowes a 13-8 half-time lead.
Clongowes started the second-half just as they finished the first, in the opposition half. A third penalty by O’Shea increased the gap to eight points.
The Kildare men were starting to dominate the game and King’s were unable to provide the response needed to get them back in the match.
Miles O’Connor scored the second try of the game after a terrific interchange allowed O’Connor to cross the line after a darting run. His strength was too much for the opposition defence.
Further tries by Patrick Nulty and winger Brian Maher wrapped up the victory. Brett Igoe, the head coach of Clongowes will be particularly happy with the final try, which demonstrated the team’s pace and power accompanied by good distributuion for Maher to get the final score of the game.
Clongowes progress to the quarter-finals but King’s Hospital can take plenty of positives from a battling first-half display.
King’s Hospital Tries: Goodburn; Penalties: McCullagh
Clongowes Wood College Tries: McCarthy, O’Connor, Nulty, Maher; Conversions: O’Shea (2); Penalties: O’Shea (3)
The King’s Hospital: Paul McCullagh, Harrison Mahood, Connall Howley, Dylan Corcoran, Daniel Corr, Daniel Courtney, Scott Le Roux, Sean Goodburn, Conor Murphy, Cathal Mullen, Sam Wrafter, Tom Doyle (Captain), Sam Charman, Jordan White, David Boles.
Replacements: OJ Onolememen, Jack Courtney, Finian Shilling, Nathanael Sibanda, Liam Morgan, Clinton Wokocha, Felix Campbell, Daniel Eiffe.
Clongowes Wood College: Michael Silvester, Fiachra Lynch, Miles O’Connor, Benjamin O’Shea, Brian Maher, Thomas Monaghan, Joseph Murphy, Joseph Martin, Daniel Sheehan, Edward Carroll, Jack Moore (Captain), Florence McCarthy, Patrick Nulty, Sean McMahon, Sean McCrohan.
Replacements: Tadhg Dooley, Arthur Odlum, Gareth Graham, Andrew Kelly, David Jeffares, Joseph Gilmartin, Conrad Daly, Reinis Lemess.
Referee: Simon Owens