Donnelly on song as Belvo off to a flyer
Belvedere College 48
St Andrew’s College 7
Leinster Schools Senior Cup first round
Mark Donnelly grabbed a hat-trick of tries at Donnybrook yesterday, as Belvedere College began the defence of their Leinster Schools Senior Cup crown in confident style.
Belvo started with eight players that featured in last March’s final victory over Cistercian College, Roscrea, and with just three minutes gone, the impressive Donnelly crossed over for the opening score.
Indeed, following subsequent tries by scrum-half Paraic Cagney and the increasingly-influential Donnelly, they developed a 19-0 interval lead.
St Andrew’s were offered a glimmer of hope when Peter Sullivan touched down after the restart, but this was cancelled out by a similar effort from Oran O’Brien.
This outcome was now beyond doubt, and courtesy of further tries from Ruadhan Byron, replacement centre Harry Beggy, Donnelly and David Hawkshaw in the final quarter, the north Dublin school booked their place in the last-eight.
Scorers for Belvedere College: M Donnelly 3 tries, P Cagney, O O’Brien, R Byron, H Beggy, D Hawkshaw try each, H O’Sullivan 4 cons.
Scorers for St Andrew’s College: P Sullivan try, N Fitzpatrick-Couzy con.
BELVEDERE COLLEGE: H O’Sullivan; M Donnelly, P Maher, C Walsh, J Wilkes; D Hawkshaw, P Cagney; C Molloy, S Osborne, J Robinson; G Murray, O O’Brien; M Kearney, C Doran, R Byron.
Replacements: C Byrne, A McDonnell, J Haughey, D Hill, H Beggy, T Walsh, J O’Grady, G Petherbridge.
ST ANDREW’S COLLEGE: A Vincent; D Geraghty-Singleton, P Sullivan, N Fitzpatrick-Couzy, Z McClatchie-Ombima; A O’Neill, W Hennessy; P Murray, H McCarthy, D Wilson; B Crowley, D O’Connell; S Keane, R Simington, Z Henry.
Replacements: J O’Brien, R Kennedy, N Judge, P Perrem, H Black, D Molloy, R Jordan, L Sigcau.
Referee: G Glennon (LRR).