Impressive Clongowes and St Gerard’s march on in Leinster
Leinster Schools Cup
Daire Walsh
St Gerard’s of Bray and Clongowes Wood College booked spots in the last-eight of the Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup yesterday, with victories over St Fintan’s HS, Sutton and The King’s Hospital, respectively.
Gerard’s were recently crowned Leinster Senior League champions with an impressive victory against Gonzaga College, and they returned to the same venue for an opening round encounter with Fintan’s.
The Sutton school, which almost pulled off a shock win at the expense of Clongowes in last year’s competition, made an explosive start to the contest with an early try from Darragh Kelly.
This score was supplemented by a superb Frank O’Dea touchline conversion, giving the north county Dublin outfit created an early seven-point buffer.
However, thanks to subsequent touchdowns by back-rows Ethan Baxter and Rory Wilson, Gerard’s brought a 12-7 lead into the break.
Six points from the boot of Oliver Haydock increased their advantage after the restart, as the Fintan’s challenge began to fade significantly.
Indded, after winger Morgan Freeley finished off a fine move in the closing stages of the contest, Gerard’s progressed with all of 16 points to spare (23-7).
Meanwhile, Clongowes withstood a spirited display from King’s Hospital at Castle Avenue to advance on a winning scoreline of 29-21.
The eight-time champions were overwhelming favourites for this encounter and they opened the scoring with a well-worked try from Anthony Ryan.
A Bobby Sheehan five-pointer was cancelled out by Craig Adams’ superb effort for King’s Hospital, before Joe Carroll subsequently touched down to give Clongowes a 19-7 interval cushion.
A determined King’s Hospital added tries through Tim Perry and Matthew Mahood over the course of the second half.
However, with Rossa O’Kane and Charles Gallen also adding to their name to the scoresheet, Clongowes Wood can keep a close eye on today’s quarter-final draw.