Calm Dean stands up to the pressure to force replay
Blackrock College 10
Belvedere College 10
Leinster Schools Cup
Daire Walsh
Donnybrook
Out-half Conor Dean rescued Blackrock College at Donnybrook yesterday, his 66th-minute penalty helping the south Dublin giants draw with Belvedere College in this thrilling Leinster Schools Senior Cup quarter-final.
Blackrock broke the deadlock after 18 minutes – when an initial break by scrum-half Luke Gaffney provided the foundations for a Richard Dunne try.
This score was followed by a James McGowan conversion, and even though Belvo opened their account with a Conor Jennings three-pointer, a brace of missed kicks left his side 7-3 adrift at the break.
But Belvedere stormed back into contention just seven minutes after the restart. Phil Werahiko’s charges established a foothold in the opposition ’22’, and their work was rewarded when fly-half David Hawkshaw grounded with Jennings adding the extras.
Blackrock never gave up and were rewarded when Dean displayed a cool head to land a penalty four minutes from time and force a replay.
Scorers for Blackrock College: R Dunne try, C Dean pen, J McGowan con.
Scorers for Belvedere College: D Hawkshaw try, C Jennings pen, con.
BLACKROCK COLLEGE: J McGowan; P Patterson, G Mullin, L Turner, C Kelly; C Dean, L Gaffney; E Burns, S McLoughlin, R Mouatt; C O’Flaherty, C Ryan; R Dunne, J Fairley, C Sweetman-Doris.
Replacements: C Connolly for Burns (40), J Gardiner for Ryan (40-53), H Bourke for Fairley (55), F Power for McGowan (57), H Egleston for McLoughlin (62).
BELVEDERE COLLEGE: H O’Sullivan; J McKeown, C Jennings, H Sexton, P Maher; D Hawkshaw, P Cagney; D McCaffrey, C Galvin, C Wynne-Walsh; H Fenlon, B Egan; S McNulty, M Kearney, T De Jongh.
Replacements: C Molloy for McCaffrey (6-10), F Flood for Cagney (55), J Iredale for McNulty, J Kenny for Fenlon (both 57), C Molloy for McCaffrey, J Robinson for Wynne-Walsh (both 66).
Referee: D Blake (LRR).