Blackrock College 85 The High School 7
Blackrock College sent out a strong signal of intent at Ollie Campbell Park on Friday afternoon with an emphatic opening round success over The High School in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup.
Finalists in 2023 – when they lost out to Gonzaga College in a thrilling showpiece – the 70-time winners found themselves 21 points in front by the 11th minute of the action, thanks to converted tries from outhalf Conor O’Shaughnessy, fullback Charlie Molony and flanker Jack O’Neill. The latter subsequently added a second in fine style, but High School centre Elliot Walsh raised a cheer for his team’s travelling supporters with a superb intercept try on 26 minutes.
Yet this only offered the Rathgar outfit a temporary reprieve as hooker Jack Pollard dotted down either side of a Mark Walsh five-pointer to leave Blackrock 47-7 in front at the interval.
O’Shaughnessy had contributed 12 points off the kicking tee in the opening period and also supplied the bonuses to a breakaway finish from O’Neill straight after the resumption. Not content with completing a hat-trick, the outstanding O’Neill bagged his fourth try of the contest after being released by Derry Moloney in the 46th minute.
High School had lost winger Charlie O’Neill to the sin-bin during this juncture and before he returned to the field, scrumhalf Albert Lindner became the latest player to add his name to the Blackrock scoresheet with a clinical effort underneath the posts.
While High School did occasionally establish territory inside the opposition half, the Blackrock defence was proving to be just as formidable as their attack.
The Williamstown school were temporarily reduced to 14 men when lock Donnacha McGuire was yellow-carded in the closing-quarter, but additional tries from O’Shaughnessy, Moloney (a magnificent solo score) and replacement Geoff Wall ensured that they still managed to end the action with a flourish.
BLACKROCK COLLEGE: C Molony; D Moloney, C Woodcock, Mark Walsh, B O’Flaherty; C O’Shaughnessy, A Lindner; P Moore, J Pollard, N Smyth; T Butler, D McGuire; Michael Walsh, J O’Neill, J Angulo.
Replacements: P Clancy for O’Flaherty, J O’Sullivan for Molony, both 47 mins; M O’Sullivan for Michael Walsh, G Wall for O’Neill, B Walsh for Angulo, S Shortt for Lindner, all 53 mins; L Magee for Moore, B Guerin for Smyth, both 57 mins.
THE HIGH SCHOOL: L Kilroy; L D’Arcy, E Walsh, J Cox, C O’Neill; A Bowden, E Kelleher; J Morton Bailey, A Jordan, F McLean; B Kelly, O Burgess; E Tuite, M Lavelle, S McNamara.
Replacements: T Taylor for Kilroy, 43 mins; U Spain for Kelly, 64 mins; F Robinson for Lavelle, 65 mins; I Hay-McGrath for Jordan, E Quigley for Morton Bailey, M Dreyer for McLean, E du Lacy for Kelleher, T Duke for O’Neill, all 70 mins.
Referee: R Jenkinson