RUGBY: Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup Final
Ros dethroned by brilliant Belvo
Belvedere College 31
Cistercian College Roscrea 7
By Daire Walsh at the RDS
THERE was disappointment for defending champions Cistercian College Roscrea on Sunday afternoon, when they were comprehensively defeated by an impressive Belvedere College side in the Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup final.
Roscrea had created history by securing last year’s honours (an 18-11 triumph on St Patrick’s Day), and with a total of eight players returning to the starting line-up in 2016, they were hoping to record back-to-back successes against the Great Denmark Street outfit.
However, it was Belvo who hit the ground running in the Ballsbridge venue on this occasion. Although prop Daniel McCaffrey was halted just shy of the line three minutes into the action, a subsequent line-out maul was finished off underneath the posts by full-back Hugh O’Sullivan. This five-pointer was supplemented by a routine conversion from outside centre Conor Jennings, but with skipper Simon Meagher leading by example, Roscrea made a positive response to this early set-back.
Fineen Wycherley, Dylan Murphy, out-half Alan Tynan and Conor Kelly all made strong drives for the line inside the opposition ’22’, while flanker Jack Canning (nephew of Galway hurler Joe) was also making a sizeable impact on the proceedings.
However, the disciplined Belvo defence held firm under pressure, and on the stroke of 20 minutes, they doubled their advantage. Openside Max Kearney dotted down at a left-hand angle for a converted score – as the north Dublin school attempted to create significant daylight between themselves and Roscrea.
Roscrea then breathed a sigh of relief when a spectacular James McKeown touchdown was ruled out for a forward pass from Peter Maher, but in spite of a missed penalty opportunity by Jennings 26 minutes in, Pieter Swanepoel’s charges were facing into a 14-0 deficit at the interval.
They weren’t out of the reckoning just yet, but within 60 seconds of the restart, Belvo had left them with a mountain to climb. Joe Murphy did his best to halt McKeown’s progress towards to the right-corner, but with momentum on his side, the Belvo winger ultimately crossed the whitewash. Jennings was wide of the mark from a tricky touchline effort, but with the half-back pairing of David Hawkshaw and Paraic Gagney dictating the flow of the play, it seemed like only a matter of time before Belvo added to their lead.
When Jennings opted for touch ten minutes into the half, it was an ominous sign for Roscrea, and after receiving the ball in space on the left-hand side, the excellent Maher added his name to the scoresheet with an unconverted score. This effectively placed the outcome beyond any doubt, and even though Roscrea threatened to open their account on the hour mark when they gained a foothold inside the Belvo 22-metre-line, McKeown eased through for his second try at the end of a magnificent counter-attacking move.
There was some solace for Roscrea in the form of a 69th minute five-pointer from replacement flanker Jack Culligan (which was followed by a drop-kick conversion from out-half Alan Tynan), but it wasn’t enough to temper the Belvedere College celebrations.
Match Digest
Man of the Match: James McKeown (Belvedere College).
Scorers – Belvedere: Tries: McKeown (2), O’Sullivan, Kearney, Maher. Convs: Jennings (3).
Roscrea: Try: Culligan. Conv: Tynan.
BELVEDERE COLLEGE: Hugh O’Sullivan; James McKeown, Conor Jennings, Hugh Sexton, Peter Maher; David Hawkshaw, Paraic Cagney; Daniel McCaffrey, Cian Galvin, Conor Wynne-Walsh; Hugh Fenlon, Brian Egan; Senan McNulty, Max Kearney, Tom De Jongh. Reps: Jesse Iredale for Fenlon (56); James Kenny for McNulty (56); Cillian Molloy for McCaffrey (60); Jake Robinson for Wynne-Walsh (60); Sam Osborne for Galvin (67); Ruadhan Byron for Cagney (67); Fergus Flood for Kearney (67); Fiachra Smith for Sexton (67).
CISTERCIAN COLLEGE ROSCREA: Conor Kelly; Daniel Keane, Philip O’Shea, Sam Hastings, Joe Murphy; Alan Tynan, Keith Kavanagh; Michael Milne, Eoghan Maher, Dylan Murphy; Fineen Wycherley, Aaron Browne; Brian Diffley, Jack Canning, Simon Meagher. Reps: Finbarr Crowley for Kavanagh (28), Jack Culligan for Diffley (HT), Ben Hyland for Hastings (47), Ryan Lomas for Milne, Evan Browne for Kelly (both 52), Cathal Walsh for Canning (59), Darragh Treacy for D Murphy, Aaron Murphy for A Browne (both 60).
Referee: Dermot Blake.