St Mary’s College 28 

2022 finalists Gonzaga College held off a spirited fightback from neighbours St Mary’s College at Energia Park on Tuesday to advance into the last-four of the Leinster Schools Senior Cup.

Following last year’s defeat to Blackrock College in the competition’s showpiece decider, the Ranelagh school are hoping to go a step further in 2023. A comprehensive opening round success over St Andrew’s College underlined their credentials and they took an early lead through a Tom Brophy try in this contest.

Mary’s suffered an additional set-back when winger Zach Hopkins was red-carded for a challenge on Gonzaga’s Hugo McLaughlin and their opponents took full advantage of their numerical supremacy in the minutes that followed.

After Jody Browne dotted down in fine style, hooker Luke McLaughlin contributed a third try for Gonzaga off an intricate set-piece move. It was already beginning to look ominous for Mary’s, but the Rathmines outfit showed tremendous character in the remaining moments of the opening period.

David Leane registered a converted try for his side and while Gonzaga responded with another five-pointer courtesy of Mikey Wall, Andrew Sparrow also crossed the whitewash for Mary’s.

A second Cillian Jacobs bonus strike left Mary’s just six points adrift (20-14) at the break and in the reckoning for a semi-final spot of their own.

Nevertheless, Gonzaga – who also reached the Senior Cup final in 2019 – had plenty left in the tank on the resumption. Supplementing a penalty try, the influential Paul Wilson (an All-Ireland minor football champion with Meath in 2021) added his name to the scoresheet as ‘Zaga developed a 34-14 cushion with just over 20 minutes remaining on the clock.

Mary’s were temporarily reduced to 13 men as a consequence of Aaron O’Brien’s sin-binning in the third-quarter, but the five-time champions refused to throw in the towel. Now very much back in the fray, O’Brien offered them fresh impetus with a 60th-minute try.

Jack Halpin subsequently got through for their fourth converted score of the game, but despite some nervy moments late on, Gonzaga held out for a six-point success.

Scorers for Gonzaga College: Tries – T Brophy, J Browne, L McLaughlin, M Wall, P Wilson, Penalty try and con. Cons – S McMahon.

Scorers for St Mary’s College: Tries – D Leane, A Sparrow, A O’Brien, J Halpin. Cons – C Jacobs 4.

GONZAGA COLLEGE: H McLaughlin; JP Breslin, A O’Flanagan, J Browne, M Wall; S McMahon, T Brophy; F O’Neill, L McLaughlin, A McVerry; J Kennedy, T Wyley; G O’Grady, G O’Donnell, P Wilson.

Replacements: C Kennedy for O’Donnell (6), M Tyrrell for O’Grady (45-50), J O’Dwyer for Brophy (45), J Sheil for L McLaughlin (56), D O’Dwyer for McMahon (57), M Tyrrell for Kennedy.

ST MARY’S COLLEGE: G Mulvihill; Z Hopkins, T Tourish, E Moynihan, D McNulty; S Ryan, L McGill; T O’Shea, C Jacobs, A Sparrow; D Leane, J Durkan; L Flaherty, L Jennings, A O’Brien.

Replacements: G Foley for Flaherty (13), O Reid for Leane, J Halpin for McGill (both 45), J Molloy for O’Shea (50), L Pollicky for Durkan (65).

Referee: P Reidy (LRR).