World of Sport
Clongowes Wood and Castleknock advance
Schools Rugby
Daire Walsh
Castleknock College and Clongowes Wood College advanced to the next phase of the Leinster Schools Junior Cup with opening round victories over Gonzaga College and Temple Carrig yesterday.
Eight-time champions Castleknock faced Gonzaga on Clontarf RFC’s pristine 4G pitch, and broke the deadlock with a third-minute penalty from full-back Oran Farrell. Their powerful number eight, Luke Callinan, subsequently crossed over at the end of a powerful run to give them a 10-point interval cushion.
Another successful Farrell place-kick increased the gap between the sides, and thanks to a stoppage-time try from Gavin Murphy-O’Kane, Castleknock eventually secured a comprehensive 20-0 triumph against an outclassed Gonzaga outfit.
They will be joined in the last-eight by Clongowes, who finished with six points to spare (18-12) over Temple Carrig at Donnybrook. A Rory Morrin try had edged the Clane school into the lead on nine minutes, but they were soon reined in by their stubborn Greystones opponents.
Indeed, following a converted effort by Sean Lloyd, Temple Carrig were in the ascendancy at the beginning of the second half. However, after Hugh Wilkinson restored parity with a well-worked five-pointer, a brace of Oisin Devitt penalties squeezed Clongowes over the line.