Newbridge boys too strong for Cistercian College in Junior Cup
NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE……………………………. 27
CISTERCIAN COLLEGE ROSCREA……………. 12
Daire Walsh
Leinster Junior Cup, First Round
Newbridge College joined their near rivals, Clongowes Wood College, in the second round of the Leinster Junior Cup, following a convincing victory over Cistercian College Roscrea in their opening match of the competition, played last Tuesday in Oak Park, Carlow.
Having surprised many by making the Leinster Senior Cup Final last year, it is clear that Cistercian are very much on the rise when it comes to school rugby, so Newbridge’s triumph here will certainly not go unnoticed.
Having played out a number of close encounters in last year’s competition, Newbridge were undoubtedly well aware of the benefits that could be derived from making a promising start to a game of this nature. This is something they managed to do in the County Carlow club grounds, as a penalty from winger Gavin Burke on five minutes edged them into an early lead.
Unlike a lot of teams in this year’s competition, though, Newbridge refused to rest on their laurels after going ahead in the early stages and, having exerted much pressure in the Roscrea half of the pitch, they added to Burke’s opener with a well-taken try from James Healy after 19 minutes. Burke’s subsequent conversion attempt did drift away from the target, but it was clear at this stage that Newbridge were very much in the ascendancy.
Credit must go to Roscrea, though, because their effort and commitment never dropped, and they got the try that their endeavours deserved when their No. 11, Alan Tynan, broke through the Newbridge rearguard for his side’s opening score of the game.
This served as something of a wake-up call for the south Kildare men, and they responded in kind by registering their second try of the afternoon through centre Jake Howlett just before the break.
This meant that Newbridge took a 13-5 lead with them into the second period, which gave them a good platform to build on after the re-start, though their lead was far from unassailable nevertheless. Indeed, this was made readily apparent to the 1950 champions just three minutes into the second half, when Tynan found his way through the otherwise stern Newbridge back line for his second five-pointer of the tie.
Outhalf Tim Foley stepped up brilliantly to convert this score, as Roscrea had suddenly brought the margin down to the bare minimum with 25 minutes of play remaining.
Yet, when it was really put up to them, Newbridge were able to respond, as a third try from scrumhalf Mark Delaney (converted by Burke) helped to settle their nerves once again. By this point, Newbridge were causing the Roscrea defence all sorts of difficulties, as Burke, Howlett and Healy were looking to pounce at every opportunity.
With only eight points separating the sides as the game entered into the final stages, there was still a chance that Roscrea could force their way back into the contest. The game was eventually be killed off, however, when skilful outhalf Jimmy O’Brien manouevred a fine try for himself, which was also added to by a Burke conversion.
To come away from a game against Roscrea with 15 points to spare is no mean feat, and though there will be tougher games ahead for Newbridge, they will still take great confidence from the way that they performed in the Dolmen county.
NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE: R Cleary; G Burke, J Howlett, R Buckley, J Healy; J O’Brien, M Delaney; M Doyle, T O’Neill, O Larkin, P Condon, P Morrin, O Kelly, L Menton, C Callan.
Replacements: D Delahunt for Condon (33), T Berney for Delaney (44), N Pearson-Buffoni for Doyle (51), C Johnson for O’Neill (57), B Larkin for Kelly (57), I Caffrey for O’Brien (57).
CISTERCIAN COLLEGE ROSCREA: T Carroll; A Tynan, R Wharton, D Lavelle, J Murphy; T Foley, R Ryan; D Nagle, R Mernagh, P McKeown, S Maher, C Carroll, D Kelly, C O’Leary, P Gavin.
Replacements: M Jordan for C Carroll (h-t), J Buckley for McKeown (h-t), G Murphy for T Carroll (51), J Fox for Murphy (54), T Guihen for Nagle (54).
REFEREE: B Armstrong (Leinster Branch).