ST. MARY’S COLLEGE 21 TERENURE COLLEGE 32, Templeville Road
Scorers: St. Mary’s College: Tries: Tim Maupin, Ciaran Ruddock, Craig Kennedy; Cons: Sean Kearns 3
Terenure College: Tries: Ted O’Donoghue, Niall Lalor, Robbie Smyth, Tim Schmidt; Cons: Mark O’Neill 3; Pens: Mark O’Neill 2
HT: St. Mary’s College 14 Terenure College 7
Terenure College moved back to the top of Division 1A following their third straight bonus point victory, scoring 25 second half points to overcome their local rivals at a packed Templeville Road yesterday.
St. Mary’s had done the double on ‘Nure last season and held a 14-7 at half-time, their American international full-back Tim Maupin jinking over for a 14th-minute opening try from a neat pass by Sean Kearns.
Terenure failed to capitalise on a strong break by winger Marc Hiney, before the hosts manufactured their second converted try on the half hour mark. Although flanker Hugh Kelleher was initially held up shy of the try-line, captain Ciaran Ruddock managed to power through some heavy traffic for an excellent score.
However, Terenure had a timely response before the break, their inside centre Ted O’Donoghuespotting a gap in the home defence and sprinting in under the posts for a confidence-boosting seven-pointer. Try number two followed in the 47th minute when in-form openside Niall Lalor’s lung-bursting run earned him his third try of the campaign, which went unconverted.
With their tails now up, James Blaney’s men were soon in the ascendancy. Their decision to turn down a kickable 52nd-minute penalty paid off when the subsequent lineout maul was finished off by hooker and captain Robbie Smyth. Out-half Mark O’Neill converted for a 19-14 lead.
With both coaches looking to their benches for fresh legs, O’Neill nailed a 35-metre penalty entering the final quarter. His 21-year-old half-back partner Tim Schmidt, who was a scrum half in the Toulouse Espoirs squad last season, made it 29 points without reply when he dived over at the end of another pacy and power-packed move, 12 minutes from time.
Mary’s showed signs of a late revival with a snappy try from winger Craig Kennedy, who broke free on the left with two minutes remaining. But Terenure closed the door on the hosts’ bonus point bid as O’Neill closed out this entertaining ‘Battle of the Parishes’ with an injury-time penalty, bringing his own haul to 12 points.
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE: Tim Maupin; Myles Carey, Ryan O’Loughlin, Paddy Lavelle, Craig Kennedy; Sean Kearns, Paddy O’Driscoll; Tom O’Reilly, Richard Halpin, Adam Coyle, Ciaran Ruddock (capt), David O’Connor, Caelan Doris, Hugh Kelleher, Jack Dilger.
Replacements: Stephen O’Brien, Jack Aungier, Daragh McDonnell, Nick McCarthy, Matthew Timmons.
TERENURE COLLEGE: Jake Swaine; Marc Hiney, Stephen O’Neill, Ted O’Donoghue, Sam Coghlan Murray; Mark O’Neill, Tim Schmidt; Schalk Jooste, Robbie Smyth (capt), Oisin Heffernan, Michael Melia, Alex Thompson, Kyle McCoy, Niall Lalor, Eoin Joyce.
Replacements: Adam Clarkin, Cian Madden, Paddy Thornton, Kaleikaumaka Konrad, Willie Devane.