Grealy puts the seal on Clongowes success

CLONGOWES 15
CBC MONKSTOWN 7
Leinster Schools Junior Cup

William Grealy scored the decisive try as Clongowes came through a tough battle at Donnybrook.

CBC had the chance to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty 30 metres out in the third minute, but out-half Ben Mahon’s effort fell short.

This let-off was a wake-up call for Clongowes, who laid siege to the CBC line, with centre James Lappin eventually driven over at the end of a long maul. Out-half Jonathan Glynn added the conversion, and Clongowes had an early platform on which to build.

CBC showed great resilience for the rest of the half, though, and Adam Proctor and captain Joey Hallwax very nearly got over. Yet despite admirable persistence, they could not break through a resilient Clongowes defence, and it remained 7-0 at the interval.

Rewarded

Monkstown’s efforts were finally rewarded six minutes after the restart when full-back Sean O’Donnell broke through the heart of the Clongowes defence to touch down, with Mahon adding a simple conversion.

The sides were still on level terms heading into the final 20 minutes. Once again, though, Clongowes started to gain control and despite some admirable defensive work from CBC, they were powerless to stop inspirational No 8 Grealy from getting in for the decisive score of the game with 10 minutes remaining.

While Glynn was off target with his conversion, he more than made up for it five minutes later when he expertly converted a close-range penalty.

That gave Clongowes breathing space, and they held off some determined late pressure from CBC to progress to the second round.

CLONGOWES WOOD — C Murray; D Mongey, J Lappin, C Mulcahy, M McDermott; J Glynn, R Osbourne; D O’Leary, J Molony, C Carroll; T Burke, D O’Mahony (S O’Carroll h-t); W Connors, H McDermott (J Sullivan 43), W Grealy.

MONKSTOWN CBC — S O’Donnell; A Proctor (K Barry 59), D Casey, S Sweeney, J Hallwax; B Mahon, R Jordan (E McCabe 49); C Byrden (M Scally 49), V Law, E O’Mahony; A Byrne, J McAteer (D Keenan 49); M Hallam, T O’Callaghan (C Dowd 62), M McGrath.

Ref — C McGowan (Leinster Branch).