Cleary and Howlett lead Newbridge to decider
Newbridge College 14
Terenure College 03
Daire Walsh
LEINSTER JUNIOR CUP SEMI-FINAL
RUAIRI Cleary and Jake Howlett were the heroes in Donnybrook last Thursday afternoon, as their tries in either half ensured that Newbridge College will make their first Leinster Junior Cup Final appearance in all of 14 years after a thrlling semi-final victory over Terenure College in the Dublin 4 venue. They will now face a St Michael’s College side in the final.
Newbridge did look somewhat nervous in the opening few minutes, when the south Dublin school were enjoying the lion’s share of the possession. However, Newbridge would soon settle into the contest, and forced Terenure into conceding a penalty with seven minutes gone, which was positioned inside the 22-metre line at a left-hand angle. This was certainly well within Gavin Burke’s range, but he miscued his effort on this occasion, much to the relief of the Terenure men.
Newbridge were starting to exert some real pressure towards the Terenure line, though, and their hard work would eventually pay off ten minutes in, when Cleary displayed good footwork to finish off a fine move across the Terenure defence. Burke had managed to get his early miss out of his system, as his coolly slotted conversion gave Newbridge an early seven-point cushion over their hotly-fancied opponents.
Terenure did manage to cut into the Newbridge advantage pretty quickly, however, as an expertly converted penalty on the ’22’ from No. 8 Lorcan O’Dea helped to settle their nerves. Indeed, Terenure would have plenty of possession for the rest of the half, and would offer a strong attacking outlet in the shape of right-wing John O’Sullivan.
Howlett and captain Jimmy O’Brien ensured that Newbridge held a precious four-point cushion (7-3) at the mid-way stage.
Try-scoring opportunities were proving to be at a premium as the game entered into its final quarter but, with just seven minutes remaining on the clock, Newbridge got what would ultimately be the decisive score of the contest. It all started with Cleary gathering the ball inside his own half, before a superb kick and chase from the full-back forced O’Sullivan into touch.
Newbridge would eventually end up with a scrum close to the Terenure line, and Howlett took full advantage of the space being afforded to him to touch down to the left of the posts. Burke was once again on target with the subsequent conversion, and Newbridge now had an insurmountable 11-point lead with time fast running out for the 2010 Champions.
Terenure did their very best to try and secure some sort of consolation from the tie, but this was Newbridge’s day, and they will move on to the aforementioned Junior Cup Final in the same venue this Sunday afternoon, where they will be looking for big performances from Cleary, Howlett, Tom O’Neill and Ciaran Callan, who have been in outstanding form throughout this year’s competition.
NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE: Ruairi Cleary; James Healy, Jake Howlett, Rob Buckley, Gavin Burke; Jimmy O’Brien, Mark Delaney; Mike Doyle, Tom O’Neill, Oisin Larkin; Paul Condon, Patrick Morrin; Oisin Kelly, Luke Menton, Ciaran Callan.
Replacements: Aubrey O’Mahony for Morrin (62), Liam Farrell for Delaney (62).
TERENURE COLLEGE: Gary O’Reilly; John O’Sullivan, Sam O’Shea, Ted O’Donoghue, Owen Shortt; Michael Haddock, Paddy O’Hare; Jack Mullarkey, Eoin Wigglesworth, Sean Stanley; John Tehan-Burke, Jack Dignam; Seamus Owens, Rory Murray, Lorcan O’Dea.
Replacements: Paul Tonge for Mullarkey (33), Daire Kerr for O’Sullivan (54), Harry Kavanagh for O’Shea (54).
REFEREE: Dermott Blake (Leinster Rugby).