Wesley College 28 

St Mary’s College staged a late rally at Energia Park yesterday to defeat Wesley College in the opening round of the Leinster Schools Senior Cup.

Wesley took the lead in the ninth-minute with a converted try from hooker Rian Handley, only for Mary’s to respond almost immediately with a superb solo score by Evan Moynihan.

The Templeogue school added tries through Lucca Jennings and Tiernan O’Shea, before Handley dotted down for a second time to leave Wesley seven adrift (21-14) at the interval.

The Mary’s cushion was then wiped out when the outstanding Handley claimed his hat-trick just two minutes after the resumption and Wesley found themselves back in the ascendancy when Milo Campbell crossed the whitewash on 46 minutes for his side’s fourth converted try.

However, Mary’s regained momentum with another Moynihan five-pointer inside the final-quarter and the decision to go for touch rather than the posts in the 68th-minute paid dividends when a penalty try was subsequently awarded in their favour.

Scorers for St Mary’s College: Tries – E Moynihan 2, L Jennings, T O’Shea, Penalty Try and Con. Cons – C Jacobs 3.

Scorers for Wesley College: Tries – R Handley 3, M Campbell. Cons – C Hempenstall 4.

ST MARY’S COLLEGE: G Foley; J Halpin, T Tourish, E Moynihan, D McNulty; S Ryan, L McGill; T O’Shea, C Jacobs, R Smyth; D Leane, L Policky; J Durkan, L Jennings, A O’Brien.

Replacements: F Devereux, J Gannon, A Holt, O Reid, L Flaherty, G Mulvihill, M Morrissey, S Murray-Norton.

WESLEY COLLEGE: F Nolan; E Pearson, P Collins, J Cazzini, J Roberts; C Hempenstall, J Freyne; S Pedlow, R Handley, R McNeill; F O’Neill, C Collins; M Campbell, A Bennet-Murphy, O Handley.

Replacements: R Price, J Cullen, T Gaughan, L L’Estrange, E Collins, D Gilmore, A Gordon, C Quirk.

Referee: C Roche (LRR).