St Mary’s College 5
Terenure College 13
Ryan Bailey reports from Donnybrook
THIS GAME IS unlikely to feature in the end-of-year highlights reel, as the opening contest of the 2019 Leinster Senior Schools Cup produced a fractured, error-strewn battle between two rivals, rather than serve up the sort of thrilling rugby this competion has become accustomed to.
Not that Terenure College will mind, though. It was they who managed the occasion better and through the work of their physical pack and tireless work-ethic in defence, emerged as comfortable winners in front of a large Sunday afternoon crowd at Donnybrook.
Although conceding large tracts of possession to St Mary’s, the 10-time winners soaked up the pressure at one end before showing a clinical end at the other to take advantage of their limited attacking forays.
Inside centre Henry Roberts kicked eight points and flying fullback Patsakorn Kidd finished brilliantly in the far corner, but Mary’s — for all their efforts — will be bitterly disappointed as they fall at the first hurdle.
The Rathmines school conceded far too many penalties throughout the 70 minutes and their indiscipline, coupled with a series of frustrating handling errors, cost them dearly here.
Jamie Cornett’s side did rebound strongly after the break, at which point they trailed 10-0, and although they found a comeback score through second row Fionn O’Sullivan, had left themselves with far much to do against a powerful and resilient Terenure outfit.
The opening passages were fast and ferocious, but St Mary’s found themselves on the wrong side of the referee and on the back foot, when flanker Johnluc Carvill was sin-binned for his side’s repeated infringements at the breakdown.
Even with a man less, Mary’s showed a dangerous attacking threat, notably off their tidy lineout maul and through a pacy backline, but they were met by purple and black wall.
Their half-backs, Eoin Franklin and Adam McEvoy, provided a source of territory with some intelligent kicking in behind the Terenure rearguard, but on too many occasions they tried to force the issue.
After soaking up swathes of pressure in their own 22, Terenure — who last won this competition in 2003 — seized the initiative on the scoreboard, with out-half George Morgan, Roberts and Matthew McGettrick and Kidd particularly influential.
After Roberts bisected the posts for the opening points of the afternoon after another Mary’s offence on the ground, Terenure unleashed a textbook, yet simple, set-piece move, for Kidd to skate through and finish in the far corner.
Morgan fixed the first defender, spread it through the hands for Roberts to break the attempted tackles in midfield, and there was no stopping Kidd as he sidestepped Eoin Carey for a seven-pointer, converted brilliantly from the touchline by Roberts.
Mary’s, to their credit, found a response on the restart. Carey very nearly showed his turn of pace to cut through, only to be foiled by a superb set of covering tackles, and then hooker Craig Walsh tried to punch a hole in an obdurate Terenure defence.
The five-time winners did eventually make their dominance count, as O’Sullivan barrelled his way over from close range, although Adam McEvoy’s conversion attempt was off target as the deficit remained five points with half an hour left on the clock.
But any attempts to work their way back into the contest were undermined by a succession of errors and an inability to stay on the right side of the law at the breakdown.
While Roberts was unable to convert a penalty from the far side after Ian Wickham was caught offside, the Terenure centre made no mistake on the second occasion, adding three more points to his side’s tally to keep Mary’s at bay.
A flurry of substitutions on either side continued to disrupt the pattern of the game, much to the frustration of Mary’s, and the loss of second row Ian Wickham to a serious-looking leg injury didn’t help their cause.
Terenure managed the final quarter expertly, as they pitched tent in the part of the pitch they wanted the end game to be played in, even if Roberts’ third penalty attempt came back off the upright at the death.
It mattered little, though, as the job was done.
St Mary’s scorers:
Tries: Fionn O’Sullivan.
Conversions: Adam McEvoy [0 from 1].
Penalties: Adam McEvoy [0 from 1].
Terenure scorers:
Tries: Patsakorn Kidd.
Conversions: Henry Roberts [1 from 1].
Penalties: Henry Roberts [2 from 4].
ST MARY’S COLLEGE: 15. Jack McSharry, 14. Adam Martin, 13. Michael McEvoy, 12. Max Whelan, 11. Eoin Carey, 10. Adam McEvoy, 9. Eoin Franklin; 1. Elliot Massey, 2. Craig Walsh, 3. Michael Connell, 4. Ian Wickham, 5. Fionn O’Sullivan, 6. Joe Nolan, 7. Johnluc Carvill, 8. Niall Hurley (captain).
Replacements: 16. Joshua Coolican, 17. Daragh Nulty, 18. Adam Mulvihill, 19, Daniel Leane, 20. Patrick McDerm0tt, 21. Seanan Devereux, 22. James Tyan, 23. Robert Nolan.
TERENURE COLLEGE: 15. Patsakorn Kidd, 14. Dan Byrne, 13. Matthew McGettrick, 12. Henry Roberts, 11. Conor McElwaine, 10. George Morgan (captain), 9. Luke McNamara; 1. Levi Vaughan, 2. Adam Dunne, 3. Sam McCoy, 4. Tom Cadell, 5. Aaron Deegan, 6. Conor Hayes, 7. Tom Ruane, 8. Peter Larkin.
Replacements: 16. Josh Keegan, 17. Adam Byrne, 18. Sean Daly, 19. Jack Townsend, 20. Charlie Harpur, 21. Andi Ciobanu, 22. Alex Dempsey, 23. Jack Whelan.
Referee: Andrew Cole.
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